Looking Back

Madison Sarratt (image courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections & University Archives) Sarratt Student Center, undergoing its first major renovation in more than a decade, has been a hub of campus activity since it opened in 1974. Perhaps unknown to today’s students is the man for whom… Read More

L-r: Carl Seyfert, Board of Trust Chairman W.L. Hemingway, Arthur J. Dyer and Chancellor Harvie Branscomb on the observatory grounds circa 1952. Image courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections & University Archives Vanderbilt alumnus Arthur J. Dyer came from humble beginnings but rose to prominence as one of Nashville’s… Read More

Robert F. Vaughn (middle row, fourth from left) and the 1907-08 Vanderbilt Glee Club. (Image courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections & University Archives) Founded in February 1891, the Vanderbilt Glee Club was one of the university’s first student organizations and one of the most active on campus for… Read More

The result of one of John Daniel's early experiments: X-rays of the hands of three generations of one family, circa 1900. (image courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections & University Archives) Following German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen’s discovery of X-rays in late 1895, scientists around the world began experimenting with the… Read More

Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Emeritus, Stanley Cohen (image courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections & University Archives) Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Russian Jewish emigrants in 1922, Stanley Cohen attended Brooklyn College, where he majored in biology and chemistry. After graduation, he worked as a bacteriologist at a milk… Read More

The School of Engineering’s machine shop at the turn of the 20th century. Instructor John Ashford stands near the room’s center, and student E.F. Scott sits in an early automobile. (Image courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections & University Archives) When the School of Engineering… Read More

Students purchase books and supplies at the Rand Hall bookstore on Sept. 15, 1960. (Image courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections & University Archives) During Vanderbilt’s early years, students were obliged to go off campus to purchase their textbooks and supplies from local merchants, many of whom advertised in… Read More

Coach Dan McGugin with his son, Leonard. (Photo courtesy of The Banner Collection, Nashville Public Library) In 1904 Dan McGugin, an Iowa native who played football while earning a law degree at the University of Michigan, wrote to Vanderbilt asking for its vacant head coaching job. Vanderbilt hired him,… Read More

Student Natalie DuBose looks at prayer ribbons hanging from the remembrance tree on Sept. 13, 2001. (Vanderbilt University/Neil Brake) In the hours and days following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Vanderbilt responded to the tragedy by organizing events and services designed to give the university community opportunities… Read More

Alumna Dinah Shore rose to fame in music, radio and television. Read More

In 1954, 65,000 people filled Vanderbilt Stadium to hear The Rev. Billy Graham speak. Read More

The stately magnolias that protect campus from the dust and noise of busy West End and 21st avenues are the living legacy of former Vanderbilt first lady Margaret Branscomb and the members of the Vanderbilt Garden Club. Read More