Written by Caitlin Stamm
In October, the family of Robert Marwick generously donated photographs he took during his time at the University of Illinois.
Robert Marwick was born in Chicago in 1916. He attended Fenger High School and Wilson Junior College in Chicago. He began at the University of Illinois in 1935 and graduated in 1939 with a degree in chemistry. While at the University, Robert Marwick participated in a number of campus societies, including Tau Kappa Epsilon[1], the Granada Club[2], and the Rifle Club[3]. During this time, Robert Marwick met Dolores Dasiewicz, a student of economics, who he later married.
In the newly processed Robert Marwick Papers are photographs Mr. Marwick took between 1937 and 1939. The photographs show all aspects of student life of a University of Illinois student in the 1930s.
Many of the photographs show university buildings, downtown Champaign-Urbana, and off-campus student housing. Mr. Marwick took photos in classrooms and laboratories, on the main Quad, and throughout campus. Other photographs show the decorations of fraternity houses and campus buildings for the 1938 Homecoming.
Most of the 112 photographs are candid and show students in their daily lives: walking to class, meeting friends, and playing sports. The photographs provide an idea of what student life meant and looked like in the late 1930s.
[1] 1936 Illio, p. 402
[2] 1938 Illio, p. 479
[3] 1939 Illio, p. 110, 547
