five students, two holding skateboards, pose for a photo on the Arts Quad in 1998

Blue Skies, Good Vibes: Vintage Summery Photos, Part One

Travel back to Big Red years past with these long-unseen images of balmy days on the Hill, from the 1970s to the early 2000s

By Cornellians staff

Every once in a while, one of our editors descends into Kroch Library’s Rare and Manuscript Collections and mines its holdings for vintage photos of student life from decades ago. On slides and never before digitized, these evocative, color-saturated images—many of them on glorious Kodachrome—have likely not been seen since the eras when they were shot.

Our latest batch chronicles warm-weather days from the 1970s to the early 2000s.

And in fact, there were so many gems that we couldn’t fit them into one story. Please stay tuned for part two in a couple of weeks—and yet more from this collection will run with an upcoming feature on alumni’s summertime memories.

On slides and never before digitized, these evocative, color-saturated images—many of them on glorious Kodachrome—have likely not been seen since the eras when they were shot.

Were these photos actually taken during the summer, rather than the academic year?

Most of them, probably not; while some may have been captured during a summer session, we suspect that many derive from those tantalizingly balmy days of the very late spring or early fall semesters—when students gleefully don lighter apparel and soak up the all-too-rare Ithaca sunshine.

Do you recognize anyone in these photos? Do you see your younger self? Let us know in the comments below!

two students study on a blanket, one with a laptop, outside Dickson Hall in the 1990s
a tour group crosses East Avenue on campus in 1998
a flower sale is held on Ho Plaza on campus in 2001
students play volleyball outside Sperry Hall on West Campus in the 1990s
two students, one holding a lacrosse stick, stand on a sidewalk near the U-Halls on West Campus in 1990
three students sit at the base of the sundial and study in the early 2000s
nine students in fancy dress walk near the Engineering Quad in 1974
students on the grassy hill between McGraw Tower and Willard Straight Hall, with Barnes Hall and the Cornell Store visible in the background, in a vintage color photo from 1990
students on the steps of a campus building in a vintage undated color photo
three people walk with Cornell Store bags on campus in 2001
a student with a clipboard examines large red flowers in 1997
students walk near Willard Straight Hall and the Cornell Store in a vintage color photo from the 1990s
three male students pose outdoors near North Campus in 2002

(All images courtesy of Rare and Manuscript Collections.)

Published July 14, 2026

Do you recognize anyone?

Comments

  1. MCB24, Class of 2000
    14 Jul, 2026

    These are great! They bring back memories of those all-too-rare warm sunny days on the Hill. Looking forward to the next installment—maybe even some gorge-swimming photos! As a work-study student in R&M, I got to enjoy a treasure trove of Cornell history.

    Reply

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