St. Olaf 150th: Panorama-rama!

This month my old friend St. Olaf College turns 150, so we’ll look at some pictures. Today, a double panorama from 1913 and 2023.

Last year I was teaching GIS at St. Olaf and rummaging the archives for imagery when I came across this lovely portrait. In 1913 these gigantic panoramas from Kodak Cirkut cameras were very popular. Steensland Library was their pride and joy, a beautiful little jewel box of a building, and apparently the entire college showed up to not smile. Even I recognize some faces.

I thought it would be fun to reshoot so one night I made this test shot with a model who was hiking by. It moves in all dimensions, so read the instructions and spin the black circle. 

Happy birthday! More to come.

St. Olaf College Archives, elevator.stolaf.edu/archives > Panoramas > 19.206.18.tif. Robert Wellman Campbell, panorama of Steensland Hall, St. Olaf College, after Sumner & Son Northfield, Minn. 1913, 2023-07-02-2004, 44.4594 -93.1806, public domain via CC0 1.0.