Throwback Thursday: Early KU Students Edition
Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 24,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!
A group of KU students, spring 1874. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0 1870s Prints: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).
The back of the image is stamped “A. G. DaLee, Photographer, Lawrence, Kansas – a fine assortment of frames constantly on hand.” The 1875-1876 city directory for Lawrence places DaLee’s business on the west side of Tennessee Street south of Adams (now Fourteenth).
The back of the photo also lists the names of the students shown. Additional information about them – their class, course of study, and residence – has been pulled from the 1873-1874 KU Annual Catalogue.
Back row, left to right
Grace E. M. Scoullar: Freshman, Classical course, Chicago, Illinois
Ed H. Bancroft: Junior, Classical course, Emporia
Middle row, left to right
William Osburn: Freshman, Classical course, Wilmington, Illinois
H. S. Tremper: Sophomore, Classical course, Galesburg, Illinois
Martha R. “Dolly” Campbell: Junior, Modern Literature course, Lawrence
Front row, left to right
May Harris: Freshman, Modern Literature course, Bowling Green, Missouri
Nelson J. “Ned” Stephens: Sophomore, Classical course, Wakarusa
Kate Stephens: Junior, Classical course, Wakarusa
When this photograph was taken, KU had graduated its first class of four students only the year before, seven years after its establishment. According to the Annual Catalogue, the university had eleven faculty members during the 1873-1874 academic year. In the collegiate department, there were three seniors, five juniors, nine sophomores, twenty-five freshman, and sixteen students in a select course (fifty-eight students total). The preparatory department (i.e. high school) had 117 students.
Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services
Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants
Tags: Abbey Ulrich, Caitlin Donnelly, KU History, Megan Sims, Melissa Kleinschmidt, photographs, Students, Throwback Thursday, University Archives, University history, University of Kansas