In the 19th century, many students at Wesleyan made class albums. These were like yearbooks, but entirely comprised of photographs. Each student would choose the images of classmates, faculty, campus buildings, and Middletown scenes of their liking.
This image of the class of 1886 is only one image of thousands in our over 150 album collection. Recently, a person cleaning out a relative’s home found a beautiful album from 1882, with winter scenes of Middletown and photographs from the inside of the original library (now the Patricelli ’92 Theatre). The generous donation of this class album to Wesleyan gives us a glimpse back in time to a campus at once familiar and foreign.