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While Indiana University’s iconic landmark the Sample Gates has become synonymous with today’s vision of the campus landscape, few realize that while this is a product of relatively recent memory it has quite a storied past. Whether it be the Class of 1899’s Arch fund, turn of the century suggestions to repurpose the porticos of the old University Building as a monument, proposals from the 1930s by noted university alumnus Senator Newell Sanders, or the ultra-modern concept designs by university architects Eggers and Higgins of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the desire to mark the original entrance to the university has a long history.

Drawing from the extensive collections of the Indiana University Archives, the exhibit includes correspondence, sketches, architectural renderings and photographs documenting the numerous Kirkwood gateway proposals dating from as early as 1899 through the completion and dedication of our present day Sample Gates in 1987.

This exhibit will be available for viewing at the IU Archives (Herman B Wells Library E460) through the end of April, during the department's normal hours.