The break up of the ice on the South Saskatchewan River. On the west bank looking east toward the ski jump on the University of Saskatchewan grounds. Saskatoon, SK.

Head and shoulders image of J. Howard Richards, Professor and Head, Department of Geography.

Bio/Historical Note: J. Howard Richards was born 21 May 1916 in Caerphilly, Wales. He enrolled at the University of Wales in 1934 and graduated in 1938 with a B.Sc. in Geography. Richards remained in Wales the following year to teach at a private school and spent the next two years as a Meteorologist in the United Kingdom and Canada. He joined the Royal Canadian Army, serving in Europe from 1942-1946. After his discharge, Richards enrolled at the University of Toronto; in 1947 he received his MA. Richards taught at Utica College of Syracuse University and the University of Manitoba before returning to the University of Toronto, where he earned his PhD in 1956. He briefly joined the staff of the Royal Military College of Canada prior to coming to the University of Saskatchewan in 1960 as Professor and Head of the newly formed Department of Geography. He was to remain in that post until his retirement in 1979. He was named Professor Emeritus in 1983. During his tenure, Richards developed academic programs in Geography and the interdisciplinary programs of Land Use, Environmental Studies and Regional and Urban Development and Planning. He was the editor of the first "Atlas of Saskatchewan" and the author of "Saskatchewan Geography" and "Saskatchewan: A Geographical Appraisal," among other publications.

Formal/Studio portrait of R.J. St. Arnaud, Professor, Saskatchewan Institute of Pedology (Soil Science).

Head and shoulders image of Gordon A. Saunders, Director, Alumni Affairs.

View looking northwest of the Livestock Pavilion; blurry piece of machinery visible in foreground.

Bio/Historical Note: The Livestock Pavilion, one of the five original campus buildings, was designed by Brown and Vallance and constructed between 1910-1912. Built of red brick, slate and translucent glass panels (some of which could be opened for ventilation), it included a large show arena with seating. The Pavilion had a slaughter room and cold storage for the butchery courses. It was demolished in 1986.

Looking north at Observatory.

Bio/Historical Note: The Observatory was designed by Gentil J.K. Verbeke and constructed in two phases using local limestone from 1928-1930 for about $23,000. The R. J. Arrand Contracting Co. was contracted to build the Observatory Tower in 1928 for a cost of $6625. The firm completed the tower $353 under budget on 14 April 1929, for $6,272. On 20 June 1929 R. J. Arrand was again awarded a contract by the University, this time to build the small classroom wing of the Observatory for $15,640. Work on the classroom wing was completed on 23 January 1930 for $15,034.50. University funding for the construction of the building was supplemented by private donations. Along with the Field Husbandry Building, the Observatory would be among the last free-standing buildings constructed on campus until after World War II. A plaque with the names of many donors still hangs inside the dome of the observatory. Saskatoon residents will find many of the names highly recognizable even today. A sundial was added to the exterior of the Observatory during the 1940s. It reads:
I am a Shadow
So art thou
The observatory facilities are available for use by both university students and visitors to the campus. The telescopes and other scientific equipment are used by students during the laboratory component of their courses. University personnel regularly offer tours of the observatory to elementary and high school classes, youth groups and other community associations. The Observatory is staffed year-round on Saturday nights so that any visitor may view celestial objects through the telescope.

Exterior view of Saskatchewan Hall on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan

Architectural drawing of the campus layout done by J.H. Mawson and Sons. This plan does not take into consideration buildings already constructed.

Saskatoon Light Infantry return by train. A crowd of military, R.C.M.P. and civilians look on as soldiers stand at attention shouldering rifles with bayonets. Houses and automobiles in background

Head and shoulders image of Lucy Murray.

Bio/Historical Note: Born in 1902 in Nova Scotia, Lucy Hunter Murray was the second daughter of Walter C. Murray, the University of Saskatchewan's first president, and Christina Cameron Murray. Lucy Murray received her BA at the University of Saskatchewan in 1923 and her MA from the University of Toronto in 1925. Then followed a B.Ed. degree in 1933 at the University of Saskatchewan where she received the McColl scholarship in 1933. Murray earned a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1935. She joined the Regina College's department of English in 1936 and was an Associate Professor there at the time of her death in 1967. Murray was given the Cliff Shaw Memorial Award for her contributions to the Blue Jay, the journal of the Saskatchewan Natural History Society.

A flock of turkeys around a stack of straw in a field on the campus grounds of the University of Saskatchewan.

An enormous root system of a 3 year old Mr. Fairway variety crested wheat, which resists drought, controls weeds and discounts soil drifting; plant was excavated by T.K Pavlychenko.

Marilyn Truscott of Glidden, Saskatchewan, a PhD candidate in geological sciences at the University of Saskatchewan, makes use of an electron probe x-ray microanalyzer. Mrs. Truscott uses the machine to analyze samples of volcanic rock from the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana. She is obtaining information that will help provide a more complete picture of the geological history of the Western Plains.

Looking northwest at the President's Residence; winter scene.

Bio/Historical Note: The President’s Residence is among the original buildings constructed on campus. The residence was designed by Brown and Vallance, and was built under the direction of A.R. Greig, Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds. The building was originally planned as a wooden structure. However, a proposal to construct the building out of a local river rock, later known as greystone, was raised prior to the commencement of construction - if the government would foot the bill. Eventually the latter material was chosen, though the government perhaps came to regret its decision. Construction on the President's Residence began in 1910 and finished in early 1913. By the time it was completed the original cost for the building had ballooned from $32,000 to $44,615. Walter Murray, the first president of the University, was deeply embarrassed by the cost of what was to be his personal residence, even though it was also a public building. However, the people of Saskatoon were proud of the building and the status it gave their University, and no public outcry over the cost ever materialized. Renovations to the President's Residence were completed in 1989 by PCL-Maxam at a cost of $96,752. The renovations were designed by architects Malkin/Edwards.

Geology Building under construction; winter scene.

Bio/Historical Note: The construction of the Geology Building marked a return to the early style of campus architecture. The Department of Geology had been formed in 1927 and for the next six decades was based in the east wing of the Engineering Building. A growing faculty and student population had forced the department to cobble together makeshift accommodation in trailers and remote campus buildings. Designed by the architectural firm Black, McMillan and Larson of Regina, the building was given a neo-Collegiate Gothic exterior to blend harmoniously with the other buildings in the central campus. The two-and-a-half-storey building was erected just south or the Bowl side of the W.P. Thompson Biology Building, providing 8,543 square metres for office, laboratory, library, classroom, and storage space for rock and fossil samples. The exterior was clad with greystone and dressed with tyndal limestone. The dominant feature of the interior was a two-story atrium that featured the mosaics for the former exterior walls of the Thompson Building, a life-size skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex and geological and biological displays. The $18.5 million Geology Building was completed in 1988 and fused the space between Physics and Biology and linked, through a walkway, with Chemistry, creating an integrated science complex on campus.