Coca-Cola "Coke" Dance, Navy Pier Campus - CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image

Coca-Cola "Coke" Dance, Navy Pier Campus
From Navy Pier Campus, 1946-1948 (University of Illinois at Chicago) in CARLI Digital Collections.

This image of postwar American youth with a Coke and a smile almost looks like an ad, but it’s the real thing, from a time capsule-like collection documenting the early days of the U of I campus in Chicago.

Properly the University of Illinois Chicago Undergraduate Division, the Navy Pier campus was established in 1946 as a temporary two-year branch with courses based on the Urbana-Champaign curriculum for freshmen and sophomores. The Navy Pier facility had served as a naval training center during World War II; in addition to faculty holdovers, many of the 4,000 enrolled students were veterans attending on the G.I. Bill.

This digitized collection of Thomas Fehr’s photographs tells the story of the campus’s first two years in slice-of-life vignettes from the classroom to academic and social events. For an urban commuter school, Navy Pier appears to have had a lively student atmosphere.

The Dance Committee, under the faculty sponsorship of Dean of Women Ruth E. Leitch, was particularly active. The first informal Thanksgiving Dance was held in Drill Hall in November 1946 one month after the school opened, followed by a formal Christmas Ball in the Grand Ballroom of the Edgewater Beach Hotel in December. Within the first two years there were also Registration Dances, a Jean Jamboree, Spring Proms as well as a Spring Formal Dance, a Farmers’ Ball square dance, a Valentine’s Dance, and weekly “coke dances”—informal mixers held on Friday afternoons in the third floor lounge.

Coca-Cola themed social gatherings were popular in the 1940s—“coke dates” between fraternity and sorority members, “coke hops” for the high school set (sometimes sponsored by local bottlers and hosted by radio stations). During WWII Coca-Cola had further entrenched its status as a cultural symbol of the American way of life by supplying troops with a taste of home for five cents a bottle. This picture captures the essence of the image Coca-Cola had been promoting for decades through advertising and marketing campaigns: wholesome youth enjoying a sociable pause with a refreshing soft drink and a prominently visible corporate wordmark.

As these photographs were taken for use as stock images in the school catalog, student newspaper and yearbook, the people depicted are rarely identified. One of the few labeled images, this picture includes students John Callahan (far right), who co-chaired the dance committee with his twin brother Frank, and Les Larsen (far left), a veteran elected as sophomore class president in 1948.

Written by Ellen K. Corrigan, Associate Professor, Cataloging Services, Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University

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