Campus Buildings Directory
The Campus Buildings Directory contains the proper names of all Lawrence campus buildings and landmarks and provides, where appropriate, mailing address, occupants, seating capacities for public spaces and a history of the building/landmark and its namesake (when available).
The directory incorporates a guide to outdoor courtyards, fountains, gateways, memorials, markers, and sculptures on the Lawrence campus. Many are associated with buildings — the Judith Harris Murphy Courtyard at Murphy Hall, for instance — but many are free-standing. Some are both sculptures and memorials — statues of Dean James Green and Forrest C. “Phog” Allen, for instance. Some buildings were intended as memorials, notably the Kansas Union, Memorial Stadium, and the Memorial Carillon and Campanile.
Other sculptures, busts, portraits, and memorials are incorporated into buildings. Busts of several chancellors, most by Elden C. Tefft, are exhibited in the buildings named for the administrators. Among other examples, the Smith Hall stained-glass window, “Burning Bush,” honors the donor’s parents, and a stained-glass window in the Dole Institute of Politics is a gift from former U.S. Sen. Robert Dole in memory of his parents. The Spencer Museum of Art holds numerous pieces honoring donors’ family members or colleagues.
Sources include University Relations and University Archives records; the Web sites "This Week in KU History" and Historic Mount Oread Fund; the Lawrence Journal-World and KU Alumni Association publications; and personal interviews.
Texts consulted include "The University of Kansas: A History" by Clifford Griffin; "Across the Years on Mount Oread" by Robert Taft; "Historic Mount Oread" by Sandra Swanson Wiechert; and "On the Hill: A Photographic History of the University of Kansas" compiled by Virginia Adams, Katie Armitage, Donna Butler, Carol Shankel and Barbara Watkins.
A primary source for sculptures and memorials was the compilation “SOS!: Save Outdoor Sculpture,” a 1994-95 initiative to document public sculpture nationally. The project was jointly funded by the National Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property. The Kansas State Historical Society was the state sponsoring agency.
Betty Lu Duncan of Mission Hills, a 1955 alumna, directed the survey of outdoor sculptures in 102 of 105 counties in Kansas. Graduate students Anne Richtarik, historical administration and museum studies, and Karen Stansifer, art history, did the KU campus survey, identifying 23 pieces owned by the university or the Spencer Museum of Art. The records of this survey are in the Spencer Research Library.
If you spot an error or an oversight, please let us know. E-mail questions or comments to erapport@ku.edu.
Evie Rapport, editor
The directory incorporates a guide to outdoor courtyards, fountains, gateways, memorials, markers, and sculptures on the Lawrence campus. Many are associated with buildings — the Judith Harris Murphy Courtyard at Murphy Hall, for instance — but many are free-standing. Some are both sculptures and memorials — statues of Dean James Green and Forrest C. “Phog” Allen, for instance. Some buildings were intended as memorials, notably the Kansas Union, Memorial Stadium, and the Memorial Carillon and Campanile.
Other sculptures, busts, portraits, and memorials are incorporated into buildings. Busts of several chancellors, most by Elden C. Tefft, are exhibited in the buildings named for the administrators. Among other examples, the Smith Hall stained-glass window, “Burning Bush,” honors the donor’s parents, and a stained-glass window in the Dole Institute of Politics is a gift from former U.S. Sen. Robert Dole in memory of his parents. The Spencer Museum of Art holds numerous pieces honoring donors’ family members or colleagues.
Sources include University Relations and University Archives records; the Web sites "This Week in KU History" and Historic Mount Oread Fund; the Lawrence Journal-World and KU Alumni Association publications; and personal interviews.
Texts consulted include "The University of Kansas: A History" by Clifford Griffin; "Across the Years on Mount Oread" by Robert Taft; "Historic Mount Oread" by Sandra Swanson Wiechert; and "On the Hill: A Photographic History of the University of Kansas" compiled by Virginia Adams, Katie Armitage, Donna Butler, Carol Shankel and Barbara Watkins.
A primary source for sculptures and memorials was the compilation “SOS!: Save Outdoor Sculpture,” a 1994-95 initiative to document public sculpture nationally. The project was jointly funded by the National Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property. The Kansas State Historical Society was the state sponsoring agency.
Betty Lu Duncan of Mission Hills, a 1955 alumna, directed the survey of outdoor sculptures in 102 of 105 counties in Kansas. Graduate students Anne Richtarik, historical administration and museum studies, and Karen Stansifer, art history, did the KU campus survey, identifying 23 pieces owned by the university or the Spencer Museum of Art. The records of this survey are in the Spencer Research Library.
If you spot an error or an oversight, please let us know. E-mail questions or comments to erapport@ku.edu.
Evie Rapport, editor
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