Students dancing and drinking at Louis' Pub in the Memorial Union Building.

Bio/Historical Note: The Memorial Union Building (MUB) has the distinction of being the last building in the centre of campus designed in the collegiate gothic style and completely clad in greystone. It was designed to serve as a memorial to the students, faculty and staff of the University of Saskatchewan who perished overseas in the First and Second World Wars. The Upper MUB has been transformed several times since its formal opening on 11 Nov. 1955. It has been used as a student lounge, concert venue, pub, bookstore and coffee shop. It has hosted receptions, fashion shows, beauty and air guitar contests, club meetings, dances and political debates. During the 1945-1946 academic year a Students’ Union Building Committee was formed. The Committee outlined proposals for the new building, which included an auditorium, a ballroom, lounge rooms, a tuck shop and student offices, all for a cost of $600,000. A brief on the Committee’s findings and proposals was later presented to the Board of Governors of the University, which created a $100,000 sinking fund for construction of the building and student fees were raised $4 to raise an additional $200,000. The MUB formally opened on 11 November 1955. It was used primarily for student functions including dancing, card-playing, chess, and studying, though it never became the hub of student activities it was originally intended to be. Included in the original furnishings was a generous supply of ashtrays. In 1957 a Board of Directors was established to operate the MUB, and to promote social, cultural and recreational activities and programs for the students, faculty and alumni of the University of Saskatchewan. Due to the surge in enrolment at the University of Saskatchewan during the 1960s the student body quickly outgrew the building. Though the MUB had been designed to accommodate expansion to the south, by the 1964-1965 academic year the Students’ Union recognized the need for facilities much more extensive than even expansion could provide. As a result plans for what would eventually be the Place Riel Student Centre were born. In 1980 renovations to the MUB were completed as part of Phase III of the Place Riel Project. The renovations were designed by Ferguson Folstad Friggstad, and were completed by Bennett and White Construction. They included the demolition and removal of portions of the building, structural alterations, interior renovations including the refitting of Louis’ Pub, improvements to the elevator, and alterations and renovations to the pedestrian tunnel connected to the residences. The renovations cost $1.7 million. In 1983 an elevator was installed in the MUB for $143,600 and ramps for disabled access were constructed by Cana Construction. These improvements were designed by the Friggstad architectural firm. A 1985 renovation to the building was also designed by Friggstad. The renovations were performed by Haig Construction for $124,725. In March 2001 the Upper MUB was renovated as part of a planned relocation of the Browsers used bookstore. Included in the renovations was a snack and beverage bar as well as public access computers for Internet usage. The entire store is centred around the original war memorial, and the renovations have returned the space to its original purpose as a comfortable lounge for students.” The new Browsers opened its doors in late August 2001. During the summer of 2002 Louis’ Pub, located in the basement of the MUB, was also renovated, by contractors PCL Maxam. The renovations were designed by the architectural firm of Saunders Evans, and were performed by PCL Maxam for $5.25 million. The newly renovated Louis’ was opened in October 2002.

Group photo of University of Saskatchewan students (Agriculture, Arts & Science, Theology) in front of the Administration Building.

University of Saskatchewan Huskies Ladies track team, group photo: Standing: E. Lewis, M. Vincent, L. Haslam, D. Locke, E. Vanderburgh, Miss Cartwright, Front: E. Loughridge, R. Goodfellow, M. Wheelock, J. McKay.

Christina Murray and friends at the President's Residence, prior to University of Saskatchewan convocation ceremonies, 1917; no other individuals are identified.

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

Interior view of St. Thomas More College Chapel. View from back of chapel looking toward front.

Bio/Historical Note: Saint Thomas More College (STM) has the distinction of being the first and only federated college at the University of Saskatchewan. It was established as a Catholic college in 1936 following negotiations between Fr. Henry Carr of the Basilian Fathers of Toronto and President Walter Murray of the University of Saskatchewan, and was named for Thomas More, who had been canonized in 1935. Yet the pre-history of the college and its buildings goes back more than a decade earlier. For several years, Saskatoon Catholics had been asking for a Catholic college at the newly established University of Saskatchewan. The first step was taken in 1926, when a group of Catholic laymen established the Newman Society, with the long term goal of establishing a Catholic college at the university. By September of that year, "arrangements were in place for Fr. Dr. Basil Markle from the Archdiocese of Toronto to teach Scholastic Philosophy at the University of Saskatchewan and to serve as chaplain for the Catholic students." The first facility for the Catholic chaplain, with chapel and clubrooms for the use of the Catholic students, was Newman Hall (usually called "the white house"), built in 1927 on land on the south side of the campus at the corner of College Drive and Bottomley Avenue. This building later became St. Thomas More College in 1936 and in 1943 it was enlarged in anticipation of an expected large influx of students when the war would end. The first section of the present greystone building was constructed in 1954-1956 at a cost of $600,000; it was designed by architects Webster and Gilbert and built by Shannon Brothers of Saskatoon, for whom the college's Shannon Library is named. The new building was officially opened on 7 February 1957. Subsequent additions to the college building were completed in two phases, one in 1963 and another in 1969. This three-stage period of construction on the building translated into well over a decade of constant construction between 1954 and 1969, and included a chapel, library, cafeteria, auditorium, faculty offices, classrooms, and an art gallery. Living quarters on the third and fourth floors, used by the Basilian Fathers for many years, have been converted to offices and classroom space in recent years. Renovations since 2000 have involved changes to the auditorium, cafeteria, student and faculty lounges, library, art gallery and the rededication of some areas to use as classrooms.

Progress shot of construction of the most westerly gate of the Memorial Gates. Thorvaldson (Chemistry) Building in background.

Bio/Historical Note: The Memorial Gates are a military memorial that is part of the University campus. Sixty-seven University students and faculty lost their lives while on service during World War I. The impact of the war on the University was immense: 330 students and faculty served during the War, a number equivalent to nearly all of the students who had registered the year prior to the beginning of the conflict. The desire to honor the staff and students who had fallen during the Great War was strong within the University community. As early as August 1918, 3 months prior to the formal Armistice, University President Walter C. Murray began making enquiries into the cost of a suitable memorial. What was settled upon were gates made of solid bronze, imported from England; the remainder, made of local greystone. Architect David R. Brown estimated the cost of what would come to be known as the Memorial Gates to be $30,000, with an additional $10,000 required for the memorial. The cement work was done by Richard J. Arrand in 1927-1928. A concerted fundraising effort among students and alumni helped cover the costs. The Memorial Gates were unveiled by President Murray and dedicated by the Bishop of Saskatchewan on 3 May 1928. A stone tablet, positioned between the bronze gates, bears the inscription: "These are they who went forth from this University to the Great War and gave their lives that we might live in freedom." For many years after, the site was used for the university’s Remembrance Day services at which wreaths are still laid every November 11th. These Gates were originally the entrance gates to campus and flanked University Drive. In the 1980s, due to increased traffic to the southwest portion of the campus, primarily Royal University Hospital, a new road entrance was built to the west. The gates remain, with the remnant of University Drive passing through them renamed Memorial Crescent. The gates are now primarily used by pedestrians, though the roadway is open to vehicles.

The University of Saskatchewan Ladies' Basketball Team, group photo (from left to right): Miss E. Cartwright, L. Rutherford, G. Truenhelt, I. Aicheson, Peg Potter, D. Rutherford, M. Thackeray, B. Macartney, A. Robinson, E. Carsons, J. Bulmer.

Three women students (not identified), [en route] to a tennis game; the University of Saskatchewan campus is visible in the background.

Aerial view of the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon, SK, looking west.