Rhetorically speaking

Adrienne Goldstone, AB’76 (Class of 1975); John Kelty, AB’74; and Ellen Mazer, AB’74, hang on each other’s words in 1974. This photo appeared that same year on the cover of the paperback edition of English professor Wayne C. Booth’s (AM’47, PhD’50) Modern Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent (University of Chicago Press). (Photography by Frank Gruber, AB’74; UChicago Photographic Archive, apf4-04226, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Do-si-do and away we go

Students enjoy folk dancing in 1948, a staple on campus and a regular occurrence at International House at the time. Folk music had gained in popularity and availability over the preceding decades, thanks in large part to the preservation and recording efforts of John and Alan Lomax. In 1953 UChicago’s love of the genre was far from over when students established the Folklore Society, with its annual music festival—still held on campus each year—following in 1961. Did you folk dance on campus? Tell us about it at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (UChicago Photographic Archive, apf4-01192, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Paint us a picture

An artist shows off a collection of paintings at the 57th Street Art Fair in 1955. Held annually since 1948, the 57th Street Art Fair is the oldest juried art fair in the Midwest. In its first year 51 artists paid 50 cents each to participate, hanging their work from wires strung through trees and along fences. Though the fair took over several blocks in the middle of Hyde Park, space then, as now, was limited. By 1963 there was so much demand from artists that the organizers implemented a jury system to select those who would participate. Today up to 200 artists fill the streets of Hyde Park each June for the fair. (Photography by Mildred LaDue Mead, UChicago Photographic Archive, apf2-09879, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Diamond anniversary

From left, English professor Edward W. Rosenheim, AB’39, AM’46, PhD’53; University Trustee Glen A. Lloyd, JD 1923; and Charles U. Daly, vice president for development and public affairs, plan the University’s 75th anniversary. The celebration, which spanned the 1966 calendar year, opened with the ringing of the campus bells on January 3. Events held under the 75th anniversary banner included an alumni conference about the College, a Student Government speaker series, performances including The Play of Daniel in Rockefeller Chapel, an alumni night at the Art Institute of Chicago, and a children’s choir performance. The University bookstore sold 75th anniversary souvenirs “sure to please anyone of past or present association with the University of Chicago,” including items such as “3-dimensional Wall-Plaques of metal polished to a burnished golden lustre” ($3.95) and piggy banks ($1.25 for a white pig and $1.75 for a black one), according to a Chicago Maroon ad. (UChicago Photographic Archive, apf3-02404, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Touch type

At an April 1974 press conference, researchers demonstrated a braille reading machine developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The project was led by Arnold P. Grunwald, a physicist on the Argonne staff, whose son Peter was blind. The team created a computer algorithm that translated text into a digitized format stored on a magnetic tape. The tape was read by the Argonne Braille Machine, which transformed the information from the tape into corresponding braille characters on a plastic belt that moved under a reader’s fingers. (ST-19120045-0014, Chicago Sun-Times collection, Chicago History Museum)

Tune in

Brian Roberts, AB’82 (Class of 1981), who served for a time as station comanager, works in the booth at WHPK Radio in September 1980. Depending on when you tuned in to FM 88.3 in 1980, you would have heard—according to the Maroon—a home basketball game; “the very latest from the British scene. Punk/reggae/et al.”; “music which is as ignorable as it is listenable”; “a lurid dodecaphonic opera by Ginastera”; Rossini’s Barber of Seville; or election night coverage with commentary from faculty members including Sam Peltzman, PhD’65, now the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics at Chicago Booth. What were you listening to in 1980? We want to hear you out. Write to us at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by Carol Klammer, AB’86 (Class of 1982); Copyright 2026, The Chicago Maroon. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.)

It’s the climb

At a Chicago Day celebration on May 3, 1992, second-year Jamie Platto, AB’94, gets a different perspective on the quads from a climbing wall run by the Outdoor Adventure Club. As part of the citywide event—meant to attract visitors from neighboring areas—special free CTA buses brought people to museums and other cultural institutions, which opened their doors all day at no charge. Other on-campus attractions included trolley tours and a jazz brunch with Willie Pickens. Did you participate in the Chicago Day festivities? Share your stories at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by John Dunlevy, AB’96 (Class of 1995); Copyright 2026, The Chicago Maroon. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.)

Sentimental education

Lauren Berlant, the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor in English, teaches a class in November 2010. Berlant, who died in 2021, was a pioneer in queer theory and affect theory. Their work focused on the role of sentimentality in American culture. In their nearly four decades at the University of Chicago, Berlant received, among other honors, the Norman Maclean Faculty Award in 2019, a Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring in 2005, and a Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1989. Did you take a class with Berlant? Share your memories at uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu. (Photography by Chris Strong)

Have photos from your UChicago days? The Magazine may be able to share them in Alumni News and in a future Snapshots. Send high-resolution scans and your memories of what the pictures are about to uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.