Syracuse University Archives

Now for some forestry fun! 115 years ago this month, the College of Forestry, now known as the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, was established. Its history has always been intertwined with Syracuse University, where the teaching of forestry dates to 1908 in the Botany Department. By 1910 Chancellor James Roscoe Day was lobbying for the creation of a College of Forestry in Syracuse, which Gov. John Dix formally established on July 28, 1911 as the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University. The college is now a separate institution but enjoys a special relationship with Syracuse University. Shown here are Chancellor Charles Flint and Syracuse Mayor Charles G. Hanna engaged in a rigorous forestry activity at a College of Forestry log-cutting event in 1929. On the left Vice Chancellor William Graham looks on as Forestry Dean Franklin F. Moon straddles the log while hopefully keeping his fingers clear of the saw blade.

Anna Shuff G'26, who just earned her master’s degree in library and information science from the iSchool, has been working in the University Archives this summer. Her biggest project is the processing of a major addition to the Bishop Jesse Truesdell Peck Papers. Peck was one of the primary founders of Syracuse University. At the state Methodist Convention in Syracuse in February 1870, when a resolution was passed to found the University in that city, Peck and his wife pledged the first $25,000 (their life savings) towards the University's endowment, which inspired others to contribute funds as well. He also served as the first president of Syracuse University's Board of Trustees. This addition is a donation from Peck family descendants, who alerted us that the papers had soot on them from a past fire. Luckily the materials weren't burned, but they do need a good cleaning. Under the guidance of SCRC's conservation librarian, Shuff has been surface cleaning the papers with a special vulcanized rubber sponge as she processes them. She took "before and after" photos of one letter as an example of her efforts.

Much of this donation, which includes correspondence, diaries, printed materials, and writings, relate to Peck's religious work, but we have already come across a few documents that document SU history, which is very exciting!

As we head into the holiday weekend, the archivists are looking forward to some quality summer fun. We’re drawing inspiration from these Syracuse University School of Nursing students from the late-1940s who took the opportunity to catch some sun on the roof of Memorial Hospital during a break from classes and rounds. Hope everyone has a happy 4th with plenty of sunscreen!

It’s National Mascot Day! To celebrate, here are some of the earliest yearbook appearances of the orange that we’d all come to know as Otto. An unofficial mascot for several years before getting the job permanently in 1995, Otto has seen a lot of wardrobe updates over the years. The archivists personally love the heavy eyeliner and vintage sneakers being sported in these photos from the 1984 yearbook in which the yet-to-be-named mascot was described as “the little orange guy doing summer saults on the sidelines.”

The campus is typically quiet in early June - but not this year! The University is humming with the construction of three new dormitories: 544 University Place (along Ostrom Avenue); 315 Waverly Ave. (replacing Kimmel Hall) and 501 Comstock Ave. (where the old Booth Parking Garage was). All these cranes, trucks, beams, hard hats and noise remind the archivists of campus in the mid-1950s when several dorms were also constructed. Here are photos of the current construction alongside some historical images of Flint, DellPlain and Watson Halls being built (from the Syracuse University Photograph Collection).

Are you familiar with the Women's Building? That brick, rectangular, mid-century campus building on Comstock Avenue? Well, it wasn't always going to look like that.

According to a book in the University Archives, 110 years ago this month, SU architecture professor Frederick Lear completed plans for the Women's Building. This 1916 postcard sketch by Lear is the only documentation the University Archives holds of those plans. Did it make you do a double take, too? In addition to the dramatically different style, it was also proposed the building be placed on the grounds of Yates Castle, facing Irving Avenue.

So here's the scoop: The Women's Building was the culmination of a 50-year struggle, starting in 1903, to construct a building for women's activities and physical education. Unlike other campus buildings, no wealthy benefactor volunteered to pay for the Women's Building, so SU women's organizations, alumnae clubs, and women students and faculty collaborated to raise the necessary funds. It took a mighty long time, including delays for two world wars and the Depression. Eventually the money was raised, and the Women's Building was completed in 1953. During the lengthy fundraising period, design plans for the building changed. Lear's proposed design is the earliest the archivists can find. The architectural drawing was likely intended to match the style of some of the older campus buildings, like Crouse College. Another proposed design from the 1940s, also shown here, echoes the architectural style of Maxwell Hall. By the time the University had enough funds to construct the Women's Building, it was the 1950s, and architectural styles were much different. And that is how we got architects Lorimer Rich and Robbins Conn's brick and clean lines, pictured here in this 1950s photograph of the Women's Building when it was completed.

To find out more historical information about the Women's Building, visit this site: https://tinyurl.com/yuchzm4f

The hustle and bustle of commencement weekend have arrived! Today, the class of 2026 will join the ranks of Syracuse University alumni. As archivists, this season always gets us thinking about how commencement traditions have changed over the years. A century ago, in the 1920s, the procession wound through the campus. This image from our Syracuse University Photograph Collection shows graduates lining the pathway to the ceremony location in Archbold Gymnasium as University leadership and honorary degree recipients file in.

In celebration of the upcoming commencement ceremonies this weekend, the University Archives has installed a temporary exhibition showcasing some graduation-related items from the collections. If you’re on or near campus this week, please stop by the exhibit case near Pages Café on the first floor of Bird Library and check it out!

So much of what we do at the University Archives is supported by the work of our excellent graduate student employees. Over the years, they’ve gained experiencing in all sorts of areas of archival work, from researching and answering reference questions to staffing pop-up exhibitions and other events. Most of their time, however, is spent processing the collections donated to the Archives and creating finding aids to help researchers from all over the world locate and access the materials they need. In the course of that work, they learn a lot about SU’s history. Our current graduate student, Anna Shuff, recently processed the Archives’ Syracuse University School of Medicine Records and has written a blog post about its architectural history from 1872 to 1950, when it was transferred to the State University of New York system. You can read Shuff’s blog and see the terrific composite photographs she’s created at the following link: https://library.syracuse.edu/blog/the-syracuse-university-college-of-medicines-architectural-legacy/

It's National Library Week! To celebrate, we're highlighting two notable librarians from Syracuse University's history: Henry O. Sibley and Mary J. O'Bryon Sibley, who met at SU, graduated in 1889, and married in 1890. Henry was appointed the first full-time librarian of the University's von Ranke Library that same year and later became an instructor of library economics from 1892 to 1900. Mary was appointed assistant of the University Library in 1892. The 1896 yearbook praised her abilities as a librarian, noting "[s]eldom, indeed, is a subject so abstruse or obscure that she cannot find something bearing upon it."

Mary was named acting University Librarian in 1904, when Henry's chronic health issues impacted his ability to perform his duties. He died the following year. Mary continued to lead the library in an "acting" capacity in addition to her work as an instructor of bibliography and library economy until her retirement in 1913.

Milestones of the Sibleys' tenure include the introduction of the Dewey Decimal System to the University's library and the construction of Carnegie Library. The images of Henry and Mary seen here come from the Archives' Syracuse University Portrait Collection and Syracuse University Yearbook Collection. Mary's timesheet and Henry's advertisement for student library employees can be found in our Syracuse University Library Henry O. and Mary J. O'Bryon Sibley Files.