The University of Rochester, Captured Through the Lens of Ansel Adams

These photographs and many others are on exhibit as part of the show "Transformative Lens: Ansel Adams' University of Rochester", in the Hilfiker Gallery, Rush Rhees Library, August 31–November 20, 2016.

Before he became famous for his photographs of the American West and national parks throughout the country, Ansel Adams brought his artistic sensibilities to the University of Rochester for a campaign that would shape its future as a leading research institution. While many of his most celebrated works were done early in his career, it's often overlooked that he actually made most of his living as a commercial photographer up until the 1970s, and this was one such job that he took on.

The year was 1952 and the University was about to undertake a major transformation by merging the women's campus on Prince Street near downtown, with the men's campus further south along the Genesee River. It would prove to be one of the most defining moments in the institution's history, bringing perhaps as big a change as the creation of the River Campus when the men first arrived there in 1930. The move was championed by University President Cornelis de Kiewiet, who saw this moment as an opportunity not only to bring the male and female students together on one campus, but to grow and expand the research capacity and influence of the University as a whole.

While the student experience in the classroom prior to the merger was already often co-ed, the move signified a larger idea of what the University could become with facilities, teaching resources and research capacity no longer being split between two different locations. In the years that followed, the graduate schools of business, education and engineering were formed, new buildings were constructed to meet growing enrollment and the breadth of the University's reach grew with each passing year.

At the time when he was hired to illustrate the campaign brochure with his photography, Adams was not the household name he has become for documenting the majestic sites at various national parks around the country. Many of those photographs would later sell for huge sums, but his financial success as an artist had not yet matched his talent and ambition. For this reason, he jumped at the chance to take on the project in Rochester and it's clear from later correspondence that he believed in the work that was being done at the University.

As a piece of University history, the photographs offer a unique perspective on what kind of institution existed back in the early 1950s, and how it has grown in the ensuing years. The fact that these images were produced by one of the most celebrated American photographers of his generation could be considered just an added bonus, albeit quite a significant one.