Time lapse: before their time

It’s a beautiful day for a stroll by the pond in this photo from the 1920s. While the gazebo pictured still stands on what is now the library lawn, the pond was long ago filled in. But the most interesting part of the photo, according to University archivist Kristina Schulz, are the women. Women could not enroll to take day classes at UD until 1935, which means archives has few photos of them on campus in the 1920s. “I looked through the University of Dayton Exponent magazine to see what events were happening on campus in the early 1920s,” she wrote. “Aug. 18-21, 1921, the University hosted the Third General Convention of the Catholic Students’ Mission Crusade. The crusade was a coed event with 600 students from Catholic grade schools, high schools, colleges and universities attending.” She found the style of clothing shown in the above photo similar to that worn in a photo of students from the crusade. Visitors to campus then were likely to have visited the beautiful spot, just as they continue to do so today.