From the Archives

Arthur Satz: Visionary of the humanities

Earlier this month, UR announced the largest-ever endowed gift for the Humanities from alum Arthur Satz ‘51. Satz, who passed away two years ago at 89 years old, left the gift through his estate.

From the Archives: Rochester’s role in the Manhattan project

Seventy-five years ago, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively bringing World War II to a close. However, the bombs came to fruition at the cost of gravely unethical research practices. 

Olivia Hooker: Survivor of the Tulsa Riot and champion of justice

On May 21, 1921, thousands of black families lost their homes and loved ones in Tulsa, OK when hundreds of…

The racist policies that led to the July ‘64 uprisings

When Reuben Davis moved to Rochester in 1955, he was hopeful about the prospect of success in a city known for its economic prosperity. But it soon became apparent that as a Black man, he was not included in the comforts of the city’s industrial opportunities.

June 2020, July ’64: Rochester’s so-called ‘riots’

"When people’s needs are not met, they will respond. And rioting, mashing up, destruction, all of those things are part of it.”

From the Archives: The pig and the dropout

When Walter R. Brooks started at UR for college in 1904, it seemed like he was unhappily on track to…

From the Archives: The ‘Fuji-UR-Kodak Affair,’ revisited

Larry Maushard wrote in a seething letter to the CT, “I […] would feel like an academic prostitute if I was part of the school’s current administration.”

From the Archives: The mystery of the Rush Rhees ghost

Further sightings were reported, like Bob Weiss’ first-person account in the Campus: “He’s come back! The restless spirit of Pete Nicosia has again been seen in the library.”

From the Archives: Larry Fine and the Empty Closet

“On the last day of Passover, I met, for the first time, a person who was openly gay,” Fine wrote. “As the sun set on that Jewish holiday of freedom, I set down a ten-year burden and was set free.”

From the Archives: UR’s Gates gave morphine its structure

Marshall Gates Jr., a renowned UR chemist, described his morphine synthesis as “by a considerable margin the best and most important work I’ve ever done.”