Zero hour, 9 A.M.

Members of the University Rocket Society set up a test stand and thrust motor in a snowy clearing to conduct an experiment in the winter of 1952. (UChicago Photographic Archive, apf4-03470, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

These boots are made for learnin’

Young UChicagoans focus on an art lecture in 1944. This photograph was part of a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story about the Hutchins-era policy of admitting high school sophomores to the College. The piece included observations about the daily lives of UChicago students, including what they wore. Notable outfit choices for women, according to the paper, included cuffed jeans, scuffed saddle shoes, and the boots pictured here, a popular choice for students at the time. Apparently, things got even less formal in the summer, noted the Post-Dispatch, when women could be seen without any shoes on at all! (Photography by Arthur Witman/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf4-01895, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Gears are turning

A mechanical aptitude test administered at the University’s Industrial Relations Center gives a man pause. Established in 1944, the center carried out a range of research and programming related to business management and labor relations, including developing training programs, questionnaires, and surveys for companies and offering leadership programs for union officials. In 1958 a new building to house the center was completed. Named for businessman and philanthropist Charles Stewart Mott, the building was located at the southwest corner of East 60th Street and South Kimbark Avenue. Were you involved with the Industrial Relations Center? What did you learn? Relate your memories at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by William M. Rittase, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf2-04317, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Precision instrument

George L. Weid, cancer research pioneer and longtime professor of medicine (left) shows off the University’s new universal recording microspectrophotometer in 1965 to three members of the Nathan Goldblatt Society for Cancer Research, which gifted the instrument. Weid, a pioneer in the field of cytopathology, used instruments like microspectrophotometers to diagnose cancer and to study the effects of disease on cellular health. (UChicago Photographic Archive, apf1-11408, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Cogs in the machine

Previously located in the basement of the Accelerator Building, which is now undergoing demolition, the Central Shop (also known as the Central Machine Shop) housed tools and resources for the design, construction, and repair of scientific instruments for the University’s Physical Sciences Division. Combining a high level of mechanical knowledge and scientific expertise, the shop’s machinists, including the person pictured here in 1974, worked from blueprints to build and troubleshoot research equipment for students, professors, and physicians alike. Did you ever work with the Central Shop? Let us know at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by Gary Field, Copyright 2026, The Chicago Maroon. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.)

Bowled over

Members of the University’s first College Bowl team gather in February 1980. Formed in the 1979–80 academic year, this bowl team placed fifth in the national radio championships, earning the title Rookie of the Year. UChicago College Bowl was started by business school student Lorin Burte, MBA’81, who had previously led Oberlin’s College Bowl team to back-to-back nationals in 1978 and 1979. With so many quiz whizzes at UChicago, the team that represented the University was selected through an intramural competition held in Ida Noyes Hall. More trivia about the team in its early days: Uniform? It varied, but they did coordinate, all wearing (for example) bowling shirts. Mascot? Jan Van Eyck, a stuffed moose. (The 1979–80 season was also notable for Harvard’s unsuccessful attempt to steal Jan.) Did you participate in College Bowl? What questions stumped you? Send your stories, no matter how trivial, to uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by Neal Cohen, AB’83 (Class of 1982), MBA’84; Copyright 2026, The Chicago Maroon. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.)

Encapsulated

US President Theodore Roosevelt (standing, center) participates in the dedication of Stuart Hall, the Law School’s original home, on April 2, 1903. A time capsule in the form of a long squat copper box soldered shut was placed in the cornerstone. When the new Law School building was dedicated in 1958, this capsule was moved to its cornerstone, and a second capsule containing midcentury artifacts was added as well. The cornerstone was reopened in 2009 with great trouble—not the first time it had caused headaches. A September 27, 1958, note from the construction workers who laid the cornerstone at that time read, “This stone caused much concern.” The 1903 capsule contained photographic portraits of early faculty members, including Ernst Freund, James Parker Hall, and Horace K. Tenney, as well as of Roosevelt and University President William Rainey Harper. The capsule also contained the Law School’s annual announcements for the 1902–03 academic year and the minutes of the first meeting of the Law School faculty. Discover both capsules’ contents for yourself. (UChicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07847, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)