UW–Madison summer courses have existed almost as long as the university itself. Here’s a glimpse of Summer Term throughout the 20th century featuring photos from the UW–Madison Libraries’ Digital Collections. In addition to admiring fashions and hairstyles that have fallen by the wayside, see which summertime traditions have stood the test of time.
Walking to class with friends will never go out of style if you’re enjoying it as much as these students from 1968.
You don’t have to travel to your summer classes on foot. In this photo, a student from the ’60s takes a unicycle.
English professor Helen C. White (far right) poses with her summer creative writing class in 1954.
Learning in the field is a Summer Term tradition. Here’s an archaeological dig that happened near the Wisconsin Dells in the summer of 1989.
Summer’s the perfect time to hone your language skills like these students in a summer ESL class in 1953. This continues today in programs such as UW–Madison’s summer language institutes and International Student Summer Institute.
Meet the Library School’s 1906 class of summer students.
Students found ways to enjoy Lake Mendota before the Memorial Union Terrace came along. Here are a few rowboat enthusiasts in the summer of 1900, beside the future site of the Terrace.
The Terrace became a great summer meetup spot and a stellar study space, as these ’80s students demonstrate.
If you went to see a summer concert on the Terrace in the ’40s, chances are it looked a lot like this one.
Some things change, and some things stay the same. Here’s a nighttime view of the Terrace from the ’50s. Look familiar?
Lake Mendota used to be famous for its campus-area diving platform. Here are some students at a summer diving competition in 1919.
Here’s what summer looked like at the Babcock Hall Dairy Store in the ’80s.
Summer Prom was a seasonal tradition back in the ’50s. Here students and their dates gather at the Rathskeller for burgers and sodas the night of the dance.
Students browse a summer farmers’ market on State Street in the 1970s.
The UW Marching Band’s calisthenics routine is the stuff of legends. Here’s one of the band’s summer workouts from 1982.