Photographic Journals
Rutgers Morning Ramble through Old Queens
An early morning walk across the College Avenue Campus reveals how iron portals, red brick museums, bronze figures, and even quicksilver squirrels share the same quiet lawn. Each frame follows the previous one like footsteps: from the heraldic gate that still greets first-year students to abstract stone forms beside Milledoler Hall, two and a half centuries of scholarship echo in art, memorial beds, and tree-lined greens, reminding visitors that Rutgers continues to add fresh pages to the nation’s oldest state university chronicle. []
The wrought-iron arch spelling RUTGERS UNIVERSITY rises above sandstone pillars first set in 1904, welcoming all to the original Queen’s Campus founded in 1766. The morning light, slipping through the mature oaks where Alexander Hamilton once drilled militia, casts intricate lacework shadows on the grass. The clock crest points to the motto Sol iustitiae et occidentem illustra (Sun of righteousness, shine upon the West also), a call for enlightenment that still guides students from over 125 nations. Learn more
Queen’s Gate Opens the Day
The wrought-iron arch spelling RUTGERS UNIVERSITY rises above sandstone pillars first set in 1904, welcoming all to the original Queen’s Campus founded in 1766. The morning light, slipping through the mature oaks where Alexander Hamilton once drilled militia, casts intricate lacework shadows on the grass. The clock crest points to the motto Sol iustitiae et occidentem illustra (Sun of righteousness, shine upon the West also), a call for enlightenment that still guides students from over 125 nations. Learn more
A freshly paved walkway guides the eye beneath arching trees toward Voorhees Mall, benches flanking the route like punctual sentinels. Look closely: a second squirrel waits at the grass line, plotting an acorn rescue mission. The tidy flag banners overhead carry the university seal adopted in 1766, embossing continuity onto a thoroughly modern quad. Learn more
Bench, Path, and Hidden Acorn
A freshly paved walkway guides the eye beneath arching trees toward Voorhees Mall, benches flanking the route like punctual sentinels. Look closely: a second squirrel waits at the grass line, plotting an acorn rescue mission. The tidy flag banners overhead carry the university seal adopted in 1766, embossing continuity onto a thoroughly modern quad. Learn more
Abstract Dialogue by Milledoler
The final stop rests beside Milledoler Hall, named for theologian Philip Milledoler, who steered Rutgers through its 1825 renaming. Two limestone forms from the Dialog series by sculptor Hans Van de Bovenkamp engage in silent exchange, their rough planes contrasting with Georgian-style brick behind them. As evening sets in, the pieces throw long shadows eastward, a visual reminder that inquiry here never quite ends. Learn more
Across Hamilton Street, the low brown mass of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum guards 60,000 works, from Soviet nonconformist canvases to American Pop prints. Founded in 1966 and expanded through the philanthropy of alumnus Alan Voorhees, the museum offers free admission, trusting curiosity to do the rest. A scarlet flag in the breeze echoes the school color adopted during an 1869 student debate, just weeks before the first intercollegiate football game. Learn more
Zimmerli’s Modern Facade
Across Hamilton Street, the low brown mass of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum guards 60,000 works, from Soviet nonconformist canvases to American Pop prints. Founded in 1966 and expanded through the philanthropy of alumnus Alan Voorhees, the museum offers free admission, trusting curiosity to do the rest. A scarlet flag in the breeze echoes the school color adopted during an 1869 student debate, just weeks before the first intercollegiate football game. Learn more
Beside the entrance, George Segal’s 1988 bronze Walking Man stands hands-in-pockets, coat buttoned against an imagined chill. Segal taught sculpture at the Mason Gross School nearby; his life-cast figures freeze ordinary gestures, inviting passers-by to supply the next step. In a gentle campus irony, the motionless walker feels more transient than the students who hurry by. Learn more
Segal’s Walking Man Waits
Beside the entrance, George Segal’s 1988 bronze Walking Man stands hands-in-pockets, coat buttoned against an imagined chill. Segal taught sculpture at the Mason Gross School nearby; his life-cast figures freeze ordinary gestures, inviting passers-by to supply the next step. In a gentle campus irony, the motionless walker feels more transient than the students who hurry by. Learn more
A bold eastern gray squirrel pauses between pavement and grass, tail curled like a question mark. Rutgers’ squirrels descended from reintroduced city populations in the late nineteenth century, when urban planners sought to “add charm and liveliness” to public grounds. Today, they serve as unofficial mascots, raiding acorn caches under the same elms that shaded debates on abolition before the Civil War. Learn more
Grey Scholar of the Lawn
A bold eastern gray squirrel pauses between pavement and grass, tail curled like a question mark. Rutgers’ squirrels descended from reintroduced city populations in the late nineteenth century, when urban planners sought to “add charm and liveliness” to public grounds. Today, they serve as unofficial mascots, raiding acorn caches under the same elms that shaded debates on abolition before the Civil War. Learn more
Beds of red and white impatiens mirror the Rutgers palette while a plaque remembers alumni lost in Southeast Asia. Dedicated in 1988, the garden sits on a slight rise overlooking College Avenue, its floral rows arranged in a parade formation. Each May, ROTC cadets place fresh f lags here before commissioning, folding memory into commencement rituals. Learn more
Class of 1965 Vietnam Memorial Garden
Beds of red and white impatiens mirror the Rutgers palette while a plaque remembers alumni lost in Southeast Asia. Dedicated in 1988, the garden sits on a slight rise overlooking College Avenue, its floral rows arranged in a parade formation. Each May, ROTC cadets place fresh f lags here before commissioning, folding memory into commencement rituals. Learn more
On Voorhees Mall, a bronze statue of William the Silent, a gift from the Dutch government in 1928, stands guard over classes that swap stone lecture halls for open air on mild days. Sunlight filters through oaks planted on Arbor Day 1877, spotlighting new academic buildings devoted to data science and public policy. The prince’s calm posture feels fitting at a school whose charter predates the United States. Learn more
Mall Green and William the Silent
On Voorhees Mall, a bronze statue of William the Silent, a gift from the Dutch government in 1928, stands guard over classes that swap stone lecture halls for open air on mild days. Sunlight filters through oaks planted on Arbor Day 1877, spotlighting new academic buildings devoted to data science and public policy. The prince’s calm posture feels fitting at a school whose charter predates the United States. Learn more
Children chase a stroller’s wheels across the lawn in front of the College Avenue Student Center, opened in 1961 and still the hub for 700-plus clubs from debate to dragon-boat racing. Construction scaffolds in the distance hint at Rutgers’ constant renovation; yet the shade of a century-old maple spreads unchanged, drawing chess players and smartphone philosophers into its incredible reach. Learn more
Student Center and Soft Shadows
Children chase a stroller’s wheels across the lawn in front of the College Avenue Student Center, opened in 1961 and still the hub for 700-plus clubs from debate to dragon-boat racing. Construction scaffolds in the distance hint at Rutgers’ constant renovation; yet the shade of a century-old maple spreads unchanged, drawing chess players and smartphone philosophers into its incredible reach. Learn more