2002 senior class gift is for the bird

The Class of 2002 has selected a senior class gift to the University that is of mythical proportions.

Thanks to the class, the original Baby Jay costume, as constructed in 1971 by KU student Amy Hurst Rachman, c'74, will receive a permanent nest in the Kansas Union.

The gift will allow for a professional display in the renovated space of the Kansas Union near the Level 1 entrance. This special display will showcase a unique KU tradition and protect the cherished University artifact from harmful conditions and theft.

The homemade costume, which cost $53.94 to build, has been stored in the Spencer Research Library. It celebrated its 30th anniversary during Homecoming last fall.

CLASS GIFTS SINCE 1873
Source: University Archives, KU Information Center

1873 - Engraving, "The Temple of Karnak"
1874 - Engraving, "Vue de l'Ile de Philoe"
1875 - Engraving, "The Roman Forum" and $28 to student loan fund (given in 1910)
1876 - No gift
1877 - Trees in Marvin Grove
1878 to 1880 - No gift
1881 - Ephraim Miller Memorial Tablet (given in 1931)
1882 - No gift
1883 - $4 to student loan fund (given in 1910)
1884 to 1889 - No gift
1890 - Rare books (several gifts); more books added in 1940, Giafferri Costume Books
1891 to 1893 - No gift
1894 - $342.30 to start university loan fund
1895 - $18.25 to student loan fund
1896 - $100 to student loan fund
1897 - $150 to student loan fund
1898 - $133.10 to student loan fund
1899 - $33.40 to student loan fund; later a sun dial
1900 - $15.91 to student loan fund and $125 to loan scholarship
1901 - $70 to student loan fund and a bust of Emerson
1902 - No gift
1903 - Bird baths (given in 1913)
1904 - $578 for faculty research fund, found impractical in 1929. Invested by Endowment Association; grew to $1,041; to be used in purchasing Kansas historical collections. $500 to augment university salary budget. Also in 1929, started university library plan for all 25-year classes to bring back a gift to the university.
1905 - $401 for Faculty Annuities Fund (given in 1930)
1906 to 1907 - No gift
1908 - $400 for worthy and needy students (given in 1933)
1909 - $400 scholarship loan fund preferably to sons and daughters of class of 1909 (given in 1934)
1910 - $13.25 to student loan fund ($202); $202 to Faculty Annuity Fund; $25 student prize essay on economics. (All money given in 1935.)
1911 - $500 for unrestricted scholarships for worthy students (given in 1936)
1912 - $312.23 for student loan fund (given in 1937)
1913 - $560 given in 1938 to start $25 annual gift for some deserving and needy senior
1914 - Stone bench on campus
1915 - Bulletin board; $310 added in 1940 for use in campus beautification
1916 - $278.58 to student loan fund
1917 - $107.35 to student loan fund
1918 - Seth Thomas clock in library and $11.65 to loan fund.
1919 - Memorial tablet in Memorial Union building
1920 - Base for "Pioneer" statue
1921 - $2,500 for erection of proposed campanile and parkway and general fund for stadium
1922 - No gift
1923 - Chime clock in Memorial Union
1924 - $1,000 as a silver jubilee gift to university for the WWII Memorial Carillon ("Bell of Classes") and dedicatory tablet in Memorial Union
1925 - $145 to start chime funds
1926 - $993 to loan scholarship
1927 - $1,103.93 for furniture and vines for Memorial Union
1928 - $1,147 for furniture for Memorial Union; $1,000 for encased photographs of 130 university men and women who died in World War I; $500 for tapestries for Memorial Union; $500 for trophy case; remainder of $3,627.38 to be used for general class expenses and student loan fund
1929 - $1,500 for sculpture of the late Chancellor Ernest H. Lindley (given in 1954). Sculptor was Bernard (Poco) Frazier. Piano for dance and banquet hall in Memorial Union and 20-year endowment policy on president's life for gift on 25th anniversary.
1930 - Service elevator in Memorial Union and 20-year endowment policy on president's life for gift on 25th anniversary
1931 - Bulletin boards and stone benches in front of Watson Library (built in 1938)
1932 - Ten $100 scholarships
1933 - Fund to complete ballroom in Memorial Union and $1,100 to loan scholarship
1934 - $1,000 to loan scholarship.
1935 - $1,000 to Memorial Union building fund
1936 - Pine Room in Memorial Union
1937 - New stage for ballroom in Memorial Union; remainder of $1,500 to a fund for construction of dioramas in Dyche Museum
1938 - Old English Room in Memorial Union
1939 - $2,500 for 100 place settings of silver and china for use at official dinners (given in 1964) and Kansas Room of Memorial Union
1940 - $1,800-$,2000 to furnish rooms at Alumni Place
1941 - $1,500 for completion of the Union
1942 - Defense bond purchased to mature in 1952 ($1,054.50)
1943 - $2,000 for dance pavilion near Potter Pond
1944 - $1,200 in war bonds to be used to build promenade by Potter Pond
1945 - $1,200 worth of flowering crab apple trees; fund matched by university for maintenance of trees. Trees to be planted near Potter Pond in memory of class members killed in World War II.
1946 - Gateway to Memorial Drive
1947 - $3,000 to landscape quadrangle between Marvin and Lindley Halls. Gift more than tripled by university donation of labor for planting and upkeep.
1948 - Steps for the campanile and front curtains for Fraser Theatre
1949 - $5,000 to provide a scoreboard and a Hall of Fame for lobby of Allen Fieldhouse.
1950 - $4,400 for information booth across from Bailey Hall
1951 - Jayhawk Room in Memorial Union
1952 - Flagpole and landscaping for Allen Fieldhouse
1953 - $1,800 for balcony furniture for Memorial Union
1954 - Landscaping in front of Malott Hall
1955 - $2,000 for construction of steps between Hoch Auditorium and Haworth Hall.
1956 - $2,800 for statue of Jayhawk; designer Elden C. Tefft
1957 - $2,000 to $2,500 for erection of canopy over entrance to Memorial Union
1958 - Funds for construction of steps between Hoch Auditorium and Haworth Hall.
1959 - Began the HOPE Award (Honor for Outstanding Progressive Educators) with $1,700
1960 - $2,500 for two concrete dugouts and an electric scoreboard for Quigley Baseball Field south of Allen Fieldhouse
1961 - "The Avenger" sculpture by Seymour Lipton
1962 - Electrically lighted relief map of campus
1963 - Antique silver coffee service given to the art museum, which supplemented the class fund
1964 - Eight 15-inch loudspeakers for football stadium
1965 - Wood and bronze tablet in Watson Library commemorating KU distinguished professorships
1966 - $4,100 for mosaic Jayhawk covering south wall of indoor pool in Robinson Gymnasium
1967 - Alumni conference room in Memorial Union addition
1968 - Funds for construction of fountain court at Murphy Hall
1969 - Funds for equipment for Watkins Hospital
1970 - $3,000 to Watkins Hospital for purchase of a Coulter Blood Counter
1971 - Funds for Watkins Hospital
1972 - $2,000 to the Burn Center at KU Med Center and $50 for a tree to be planted in front of Wescoe Hall.
1973 - $3,100 for oil portrait of former Chancellor E. Laurence Chalmers Jr. and plaque commemorating KU alumni and students killed in Vietnam War
1974 to 1978 - No gift
1979 - Fireplace for the Satellite Union
1980 to 1981 - No gift
1982 - Plaque listing presidents of the Alumni Association
1983 - No gift
1984 - $2,000 painting, "Kansas Landscape" by Robert Sudlow, and a case to display the Civil War jacket and sword of Chancellor Fraser
1985 - $5,000 endowment. (Interest from the fund will be used for a $500 annual award to an outstanding benefactor-faculty, staff, administrators, students or alumni.)
1986 - $1,000 for a park bench overlooking Potter Pond. (The bench will sit on an earth terrace about 100 yards northwest of Memorial Drive. Crushed rock will be placed around the concrete base, shrubs might be planted, plaque commemorating the class.)
1987 - Began CLAS Award for Outstanding Student Members
1988 - Pedestal and display case for polished stone Jayhawk in Kansas Union
1989 - Bronze plaque displaying the names of the CLAS Award recipients
1990 - Redbud trees along Naismith Drive
1991 - $5,000 to begin lecture series
1992 - Landscaping for the arts center
1993 - Marble mosaic Jayhawk in Kansas Union lobby
1994 - Painting commemorating the production of "The Secret Garden" in the Lied Center
1995 - $10,000 to Jayhawks for KU Library Fund
1996 - Sundial
1997 - Bronze University seal in front of Budig Hall
1998 - 6-by-3-foot piece of flooring from Allen Fieldhouse shaped like the state of Kansas. It contains the outline of the state of Kansas and a half-relief bronze of a basketball and a Jayhawk.
1999 - Bronze Jayhawk by sculptor Mike Elwell, c'64, l'67, at the entrance to the KU Visitor Center
2000 - The Campanile Award, to be given annually to a May graduate who has shown outstanding campus leadership
2001- Large hardwood tree to be planted on the lawn of the new Student Recreation Center, now under construction on the south side of campus
2002 - Glass display case for original Baby Jay costume

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