This holiday season, Working@Duke picks some holiday-themed campus photos from the University Archives and beyond. One of the recurring images, above, shows a tree covered in lights on the main West Campus quad. The fir tree, in this photo, was decorated for 15 years, died in 1988 and had to be removed; a new, 15-foot cedar was planted to take its place. On the cover of a Duke Annual Fund holiday card, above, the drawing pays homage to the annual tree lighting tradition. The Nereidian Club, a women’s synchronized swim group, put on a holiday-themed performance in 1947, most likely in the Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, which is now part of Brodie Recreation Center, according to Duke University Archives. The club was established at Duke in 1938, and the members were chosen for their swimming form, coordination and ability to synchronize swimming to music.For more than a decade, students, staff and faculty have come together for Latkapalooza, the annual campus Hannukah celebration in which potato latkes with applesauce are served and participants recite a blessing for the lights on the menorah. This year, members of the Duke Jewish Student Union wore their "I Love You a Latke" T-shirts and served sweet potato and traditional latkes at the Loop Pizza Grill in the Bryan Center. Photo courtesy of Jewish Life at Duke.
The Duke Blue Devil channels the spirit of Santa in the mid-1980s. This photo appeared in the 1986 edition of the Chanticleer, Duke’s student yearbook. A display in the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture this year shared the seven principles of Kwanzaa. The center’s 2014 Kwanzaa principle is Nia, or Purpose. The six others are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). Kwanzaa was built upon these principles, or the Nguzo Saba, and the African-American and Pan-African holiday is celebrated Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. Photo by Working@Duke.The Duke University Archives includes a collection of holiday cards sent by various Duke departments and administrators, such as the Duke president, over the years. This 1988 Duke holiday card showing the campus covered in snow reads on the inside, “May the blessings of peace, hope, and joy be with you this holiday season.” The card is stamped “150 Duke” to celebrate the university’s sesquicentennial, and the photograph was taken by Les Todd, who is currently a staff member at Duke Photography.Duke held a Rose Bowl dinner on Christmas Day in 1941, in honor of the Oregon State football team. The following week, the Oregon State Beavers and Duke Blue Devils faced off in the 1942 Rose Bowl held in Durham. In this photo, radio entertainer Graham Jackson plays the accordion in the West Campus Union building, according to the University Archives.
