Walking through the winters of our past #FlashbackFriday

Photograph of white female student, long hair with glasses, close-up in a library office setting (cubicle & book shelves filled with books visible in the background). — Photograph courtesy of Cassandra.

This blog post was authored by Curation Services Student Writer Cassandra Anderson.

For this #FlashbackFriday I thought we might dive into some pretty cool snow images from the past. I have had these images saved for a while now because I really wanted to wait until we had some snowy weather to compare them to, and boy did mother nature deliver! Students are walking through about five inches of snow to get to their classes today after the snow filled few days we have had! Snow on campus is something that every group of students will experience while studying here at Iowa State University, and while some students love the snow, others are less than excited by it.

A large group of students walking along the sidewalk on central campus that runs from Curtiss Hall to Beardshear Hall in a heavy snow fall, 1979. — From University Photographs box 328.

Here are students walking from Curtiss Hall to Beardshear Hall on central campus in 1979. While there is no other date information for this photo, it looks like they were getting some pretty serious snowfall. This scene could have been recreated yesterday with the amount of snow students were walking through at the end of the day. This photo and more snow scenes can be found in box 328 of RS 4/8/J. Currently it is not snowing, but I can see my fellow students trying to navigate the frozen world outside. Here is a look at what the view from my window on the second floor of the library is right now! While most of the students are at their early morning classes, a few are walking the sidewalks, trying to get places with the two inches of snow we gained last night.

View from the second floor windows of Parks library looking out over the snow covered free speech area, Beardshear Hall is in the background. — Photograph courtesy of Cassandra.

Another cool photo that I found while looking through box 328 of collection RS 4/8/J – Snow Scenes, was an almost identical photo from the first group of students walking in the snow, only this one is from 1994! These students look a little more excited about the snow, and it looks like there was less snow compared to the photo from 1979. How cool is it though that we have two almost identical photos from two separate years? I love finding these connections in the archives, you truly never know what might turn up!

A large group of students walking along the sidewalk on central campus that runs from Curtiss Hall to Beardshear Hall in the snow, 1994. — From University Photographs, box 328.

One Reply to “”

You’re not old enough to remember the 1973 April blizzard, but I’m pretty sure you should have some photos from the then since it is the 1st time ISU officially canceled classes due to a snow storm. SMILE!!!