Category Archives: Just for Fun

TWO

Dancing Record Players, 1955

It’s been a long and fun year. We’re counting down to LDOC with Duke University Archives photos of Duke students having a good time! (Click the photo to see it on our Flickr photostream, Duke Yearlook.)

Dressed in these fetching hats, these students danced the night away as the Shoe ‘n’ Slipper Club hosted Count Basie and his orchestra in 1955.

Countdown to LDOC:

(Thanks to University Archives student assistant Crystal Reinhardt for helping with photo selection.)

THREE

Cheerleaders, 1983

It’s been a long and fun year. We’re counting down to LDOC with Duke University Archives photos of Duke students having a good time! (Click the photo to see it on our Flickr photostream, Duke Yearlook.)

And we wouldn’t be able to have fun without the Blue Devil or basketball, would we? This photo comes to us from the 1983 ACC tournament. Oh, and the referee doesn’t count!

Countdown to LDOC:

(Thanks to University Archives student assistant Crystal Reinhardt for helping with photo selection.)

FOUR

Playing Croquet, 1974

It’s been a long and fun year. We’re counting down to LDOC with Duke University Archives photos of Duke students having a good time! (Click the photo to see it on our Flickr photostream, Duke Yearlook.)

As much as we love this photo, we know very little about it (other than that it’s from page 141 of the 1974 Chanticleer). If you know the story behind this photo, share it in a comment below or contact us!

Countdown to LDOC:

(Thanks to University Archives student assistant Crystal Reinhardt for helping with photo selection.)

FIVE

Duke Ambassadors, 1959

It’s been a long and fun year. We’re counting down to LDOC with Duke University Archives photos of Duke students having a good time! (Click the photo to see it on our Flickr photostream, Duke Yearlook.)

So, ladies and gentlemen, now it’s time to get all dolled up in your best duds for a performance by the Duke Ambassadors!

Countdown to LDOC:

(Thanks to University Archives student assistant Crystal Reinhardt for helping with photo selection!)

Dressing Doris: Evening Dresses

Doris Duke in evening gownSpring is in the air! It’s time to shake the remnants of winter off the ol’ Uggs and turn your thoughts towards the latest trends in fashion . . . or at least the latest trends in fashion from the 1930s-1940s. We recently found 40 hand-drawn, hand-colored dress designs by Maison Paquin, a Paris fashion house known for its evening dresses and tailored day dresses, in the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Historical Archives (featured in our recent exhibit).

Jeanne Paquin (1869-1936), a French fashion designer, was known for deep, rich colors, luxurious fabrics, and modern and innovative designs. She tended to use materials that hugged the body on top and flowed on the bottom.

We don’t know if Paquin designed these dresses specifically for Doris Duke, but, considering there is a patron number and specific fabrics attached to the designs, it is highly likely that these were designs only available to serious couture customers. A further clue into Doris Duke’s patronage is a receipt from 1938 in which she purchased 26 items from Paquin for 81.650 francs.

Looking through (and ooh-ing and aah-ing over) all these amazing designs made us wonder how they would have stacked up in a show like Project Runway. We have narrowed down the 40 Paquin designs to 10, and will be showcasing them here on The Devil’s Tale in two runway challenges. Today’s runway show is evening wear. Click below to see the designs and vote for your favorite look. You get to decide which is in and which is out!

Continue reading Dressing Doris: Evening Dresses

SIX

International students playing badminton

It’s been a long and fun year. We’re counting down to LDOC with Duke University Archives photos of Duke students having a good time! (Click the photo to see it on our Flickr photostream, Duke Yearlook.)

Who wants to study when you can play badminton? Here, international students unwind with their new American friends as part of the Institute for International Education’s summer orientation program. Duke University served as a host institution for this U.S. State Department initiative from 1950 to 1957.

Countdown to LDOC:

(Thanks to University Archives student assistant Crystal Reinhardt for helping with photo selection!)

SEVEN

Dormitory Gab Session, 1940s

It’s been a long and fun year. We’re counting down to LDOC with Duke University Archives photos of Duke students having a good time! (Click the photo to see it on our Flickr photostream, Duke Yearlook.)

Think these 1940s co-eds are just relaxing with some bon-bons at the end of a tough day of classes? Not at all: this is actually a high-level meeting to plan a holiday dance!

Countdown to LDOC:

(Thanks to University Archives student assistant Crystal Reinhardt for helping with photo selection!)

EIGHT

Card Game Photo from Charles Bagley Scrapbook

It’s been a long and fun year. We’re counting down to LDOC with Duke University Archives photos of Duke students having a good time!

The photo above comes from Trinity College student Charles Bagley’s scrapbook, which documents school life from 1907 to 1913. You’ll find a digitized version of the scrapbook on the Duke University Archives’ Flickr photostream.

(Thanks to University Archives student assistant Crystal Reinhardt for helping with photo selection!)

Celebrating Tenn’s Centennial

10 DarlingToday, March 26, 2011, would be the hundredth birthday of Tennessee Williams, one of America’s great playwrights. The Carson McCullers Papers here at Duke contain many letters between McCullers and Williams, most from the late 1940s, shortly after Williams had written McCullers a fan letter and the two had immediately become close friends. The letters are full of passionate discussion of their work, travels, and deep affection for each other.

Tennessee Williams' signatureOn behalf of McCullers and all lovers of American theatre and literature: Happy birthday, “10 Darling.”

Post contributed by Will Hansen, Assistant Curator of Collections.

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Uncle Terry’s Bracket

Terry Sanford's 1992 NCAA Bracket
Click to enlarge.

On any ordinary Monday morning in 1992, then-North Carolina Senator and former President of Duke University Terry Sanford began his week attending to the public’s business.  However, this particular Monday in March happened to be the day after Selection Sunday and, like so many of us, Senator Sanford contemplated his blank NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket at the expense of perhaps more pressing work.

Among the hundreds of linear feet of Terry Sanford’s records and papers held in the RBMSCL (his senatorial papers) and University Archives (records from his Duke presidency) is his 1992 NCAA Tournament bracket.  Although he couldn’t have foreseen Christian Laettner’s last second turnaround jumper against Kentucky and Duke’s trouncing of Michigan’s “Fab-5” in the tournament final, the man that the Duke Student body fondly referred to as “Uncle Terry” chose Duke to repeat as NCAA champions.  Will they do it again in 2011?

Post contributed by Josh Larkin-Rowley, Research Services Assistant.

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