John Tolley, August 16, 2019
?They have secured a most eligible as well as handsome sight.?
These words are found in 1st Annual Report of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The board of trustees had just recently accepted a generous offer from the government of Franklin County to locate the new land-grant university in the state?s capital. With an endowment from the sale of federal lands and nearly matching funds from the county, construction soon began on what today we know as The Ohio State University.
In the new photographic compendium Time and Change: 150 Years of The Ohio State University (Ohio State Press, 2019,) chief archivist Tamar Chute curates a collection of distinct and often rare images sure to tug on the heart strings of Buckeyes young and old.
Watch as the iconic Oval takes shape. See the historic Horseshoe rise from the fields. This in-depth assemblage traces the roots of the university, from a humble, but ambitious institution to one of the world?s leaders in research and higher education.
Yet, for as stirring as the images of campus are, they are at times eclipsed by seemingly simpler photographs. Students relaxing in the shade, professors stewarding hungry minds, Buckeye fans roaring with excitement and other images of the multitude of lives intertwined with Ohio State remind readers of the deeply personal side of the university.
As Ohio State looks back on a century and a half of education, athletics and research, the university is redoubling its own efforts to fully realize the land-grant mission of service. The 300-plus photos presented in Time and Change offer not just a remembrance of things past, but a bit of a road-map for what future growth might look like in a historical context.
