Every once in a while I get the urge to walk over and pull things off the shelves at random. Even after all these years there is so much in the archives that I haven’t seen. Parts of the collection I know extremely well because I’m very intentionally using them for research. So it’s randomness–the opposite of intentionality–that becomes the means of discovery.
In the course of such a recent exploration I came across this useful little document:
It contains drawings of the interior layouts of the dormitories from their construction through the changes that were current at the time it was compiled in 1945. The bland title gives no hint that there’s something beautiful inside, but there is. Look at this–South Hall in 1912. Zoom in and look closely:
I had to look up “slype.”
And now the same floor plans, circa 1942. I especially appreciate the dramatic change in drawing and lettering style. The layout remains roughly the same, but these drawings reflect two very different worlds:
Bonus: A loyal reader sends this photo of Rayzor 110, taken sometime before the building was renovated in 2003, probably in the late ’90s.
It’s almost certainly the same room as the one in this photo from last week, twenty or so years earlier:
I remember taking a class there in the mid-90s so I can personally swear that sometimes the chairs were set up normally.