Detail View: J. Raymond Brackett Photograph Collection: [Parade on the Quadrangle]

File Name: 
arbrack2305.tif
Collection Name: 
J. Raymond Brackett, Photographs and Negatives, 1890-1915
Work Type: 
photographic prints
Work Title: 
[Parade on the Quadrangle]
Work Agent Name: 
Brackett, J. Raymond
Work Agent Role: 
Photographer
Work Date: 
1912
Work Date Type: 
view
Subject Term: 
Photography -- Boulder (Colo.)
Location Name: 
Gymnasium
Location Name: 
Buckingham Library
Location Name: 
Norlin Quadrangle
Location Name: 
Quadrangle
Location Name: 
Engineering Building
Location Name: 
University Theatre
Repository Location Name: 
University of Colorado Boulder Libraries Rare and Distinctive Collections
Repository Location Type: 
repository
Repository Location Refid: 
Book 5, 23-5
Repository Location Refid Type: 
shelfList
Material: 
photographic paper
Material Type: 
support
Material Vocab: 
aat
Technique: 
photography (process)
Technique Vocab: 
aat
Work Description: 
This shows graduation or possibly May Day festivities -an outdoor parade on the quadrangle. The best clue as to the date is the absence of the large square brick smoke stack on the back of the Engineering building. All that is seen is a smaller stack. The big one was apparently removed around 1910 when power generation was moved from the Engineering building to the new heating plant (which is still in use in 1973). S. Mandel in "Proud Past - Bright Future" pg. 66, says that the class of 1911 was the last to graduate in Chautauqua and after that the graduations were held in Macky. So this could be around 1912. It is taken from a main floor window of the library (now the Little Theater) whose steps are here crowded. The lamps on the steps have globes - which are absent in earlier pictures. Most of the people in the parade are women although a number of faces are blurred making identity difficult. The people at the head of the line are in black robes with mortar board hats - hence the suggestion that this may be a graduation parade. All the women in white suggest it may be a May Day parade and this is supported by the distant group of women in white who appear to be holding arches of flowers. The time of day is about 2 or 3 p.m. The irrigation ditch is just north of the main sidewalk as it is today. The crowd is separated by the sidewalk because the people on the right are standing on the terrace to see over the heads of those below. It looks as though a couple of photographers are out in the center of the quadrangle. To the right of the marching group are several metal poles about 10 feet high that support two wires. One wire has light bulbs in it in white porcelain sockets. One pole is at the lower left and one can trace the poles and lights all the way back to the arched doorway of the gym. These bulbs are all in series rather than in parallel. To the left of the gym is the small white building which is the railroad station. One man is standing and one is seated by the station. The tracks are visible on the other side of the station. To the left of the station and by the Engineering building is a steel arch frame outlined in light bulbs which shows in other pictures of the Engineering building. This view today would show Norlin Library standing where Engineering and the gym stand. There is a possibility that this shows the same event as is shown on pg. 3 of the Alumni News August 1973 which is there dated as as the May Day Fete May 3, 1913. In that picture the last coed in cap and gown has her mortar board hat tipped backward at a jaunty angle as does the last girl here. In that picture there is a man in black and two women in grey walking west toward the photographer on the main sidewalk. These could be the three people clustered immediately behind a small tree near the right. However, in that picture one sees one pole and its string of overhead lights which seems to be only a foot or two north of the line of small trees while here the poles appear to be 20 or more feet north of the trees.
Image Rights: 
The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Image Rights URI: 
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Image Title: 
[Parade on the Quadrangle]
Image Source: 
Bartlett, Albert A. and Kupfner, George, The glass plate negatives of Prof. J. Raymond Brackett (1854-1922) showing scenes of the University of Colorado from 1890 to 1915
Image Measurements: 
38560824
Image Measurements Type: 
fileSize
Image Work Type: 
digital image
Identifier ARK: 
https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/b09f9723j8c5