Hopkins Retrospective

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Johns Hopkins is a historic institution in so many ways. What lessons can we draw from our experience as we look forward to our collective future?

Hopkins Retrospective is an outreach and research initiative seeking to expand understanding of the history of Hopkins, communicating it with the community, and weaving that history into the present-day university experience in meaningful ways. In our founding, we defined the model of the American research university, now emulated around the globe. Yet, there is still more to uncover about the how the elements of our one university coalesced and evolved, shaped by and influencing the events and discoveries of the past 145 years. Hopkins Retrospective is a research and outreach initiative seeking to expand understanding of the history of Hopkins and to weave that history into the university experience. The project includes a range of other initiatives like research fellowships, oral history interviews, and public programming. Additionally, a history of the university written by Professor Stuart “Bill” Leslie is forthcoming; this effort will be told through the spaces that define Hopkins like the laboratory or seminar room, with emphasis on the people that have also made Hopkins what it is today. We hope this page will be a place where you can learn more, explore the history of the university in greater depth, and share your stories, pictures and perspectives on the role that you played as part of the history of Johns Hopkins University.

10/29/2026

Halloween costume inspiration, Part 2: Last Minute Edition.

Photos: A student wears a paper mache mask of the Blue Jay mascot, Hullabaloo 1980; A person dressed a mouse mascot (Mickey Mouse?) poses for a photo with a kid, Hullabaloo 1982; Several crabs and other mascots march in a parade wearing top hats and carrying canes, Hullabaloo 1984.

10/22/2026

👑✨

10/22/2026

We hope you all have a wonderful and restful fall break!

Photos: Fall on Keyser Quad, 2002; Students walk around Homewood Campus during the fall of 2004.

09/22/2026

Perhaps some Halloween costume inspiration from the 1980 Spring Fair? Happy Fall, everyone! 🍂

09/11/2026

This National School Picture Day, we take a closer look at the 1970 Hullabaloo, the student published yearbook at Hopkins from 1889-2015. The 1970 Hullabaloo acts as a way to get the student perspective through a camera’s lens of national events during that time, including the Vietnam War and protests. The yearbook also offers some commentary on university specific milestones as the last year the undergraduate classes only allowed men.

If you want to view the full yearbook, follow the link to JScholarship in the comments below.

Photos: Various photos of students in the 1970 Hullabaloo, featuring formal photo portraits, candid campus life shots, and a duck named in the yearbook “Deabakey’s duck”.

09/03/2026

We can’t wait to get this on our shelf! What era of Hopkins are you looking forward to diving into?

Historian Andrew Jewett, author of 'Johns Hopkins: The First 150 Years,' discusses how the university has changed since its founding and what lessons it should take into the future

09/01/2026

We can't wait to see the transformation. 😍

08/25/2026

Welcome Class of 2030! Meet the class of 1990 during their first year at Hopkins in 1986.

Photos: Students arrive to move into the resident halls (Hullabaloo 1987); A housemaster helps students at AMR II for the freshman check-in board where they get messages from advisors, and new students’ arrivals are confirmed (Stephen M. Hewitt, Hullabaloo 1987); Adams hall first-year students pose with stuffed animals and dolls (Hullabaloo 1987); Two student residents of Wood 125 photographed in their room (Joe Chen, Hullabaloo 1987); Rogers Hall first-year students take a photo on the building’s fire escape (Hullabaloo 1987); Yearbook notes that the student on the left, a native Baltimorean, is giving her friend from NJ “an insider’s view of Charm City” (Mark Bateman, Hullabaloo 1987).

08/13/2026

Introducing our newest Hugh Hawkins Fellows! 📜✨

Hugh Hawkins Research Fellowships are awarded annually to JHU undergraduate or graduate students who wish to research the university’s history. Four fellows were selected to be provided support on their research.

Shaan Bhandarkar, School of Medicine, ’28, Medicine, Neurosurgery, “Beyond Deficit: The Hardy Clinic and the Professionalization of Rehabilitation”

Grace Kim, School of Medicine, ’28, Medicine, “The Intersection of Early Breast Cancer Awareness Campaigns and Surgical Practice at Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1900–1940”

Honora Muratori, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, ’29, History, Political Science, German, “The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab: A Global University and National Lab?”

Myra Saeed, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, ’28, Chemistry, History, “Progress and its Price: Visually Mapping the University’s Property Acquisitions and Community Responses in Homewood Museum"

Visit our Hugh Hawkins Fellowship page for more information on the fellowship and our past fellows’ research. Link in the comments.

Photos: Headshots of our Hugh Hawkins Fellows for the 2026 – 2027 school year.

07/30/2026

297 is looking good on you, Baltimore. ✨

Even though half the age of the city it resides in, Johns Hopkins University has deep roots in it. Its original campus was seated in the Mount Vernon neighborhood. From its founding in 1876 until 1924, Hopkins owned buildings down the street from the then independent Peabody Conservatory. Actually, students at Hopkins used the proximity to Peabody to take advantage of its library as the university got its footing. All original buildings and land were sold once the university settled on its Homewood campus.

Images: Aerial view of Johns Hopkins University's original campus, note Peabody Conservatory in the top right, 1920; Interior view of Chemica Laboratory on Johns Hopkins University's original campus with students, 1900; A drawing of an exterior view of Biological Laboratory on Johns Hopkins University's original campus, 1885; View of Baltimore City, 1850.

Address

3400 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD
21218

Website

http://retrospective.jhu.edu/

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