Category Archives: Found in the Archives

Campus Traditions: Class Colors and the Color Rush

By Anna Trammell | Published: January 21, 2016

We all know that the representative colors of the University of Illinois are orange and blue. For many years, however, students showed loyalty to their individual class by displaying a different set of colors. The tradition of class colors began early in the University’s history. In 1891, the first Color Rush was held. A 1921 Daily Illini article describes the […]

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Campus Traditions: the Failure of the Practical

By Thomas Hendrickson | Published: January 13, 2016

Years ago, nearly a century now, the University of Illinois campus was rife with traditions that undergraduate classes were supposed to observe. Many of these traditions were written down for incoming freshmen in student handbooks published by the YMCA. These were traditions that involved the Senior Bench, the Gettysburg Tablet, a no-smoking custom, and many […]

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An Unusual Sporting Event

By Leanna Barcelona | Published: January 6, 2016

  There have been many strange events and occurrences on campus at the University of Illinois, but none quite as odd as the sport of “donkey basketball” that took place in the 1960s. The agronomy club Field and Furrow sponsored an event with the Agriculture Education Club on March 15, 1963 at 8:00 pm that […]

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Writings Depict Illinois Student Experience

By Ellen Swain | Published: December 17, 2015

As finals wind down and students leave campus for a much needed winter break, the SLC Archives thanks all students who visited the Archives this semester for class introduction sessions and tours or to conduct research for essays and final papers! Classes from the Undergraduate Rhetoric Program are frequent users of SLC materials and English […]

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#AskAnArchivist Day 2015 Summary

By Anna Trammell | Published: October 2, 2015

Yesterday, October 1, was #AskAnArchivist Day when archivists all over the country respond to questions about their collections, the profession, and more on Twitter. Staff at the University of Illinois Archives and the Student Life and Culture Archives answered questions and shared some of their favorite items and images throughout the day. Here’s a recap of some […]

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