This month the college Archives have chosen a series of historical Winter Carnival photos over the years.

The Olympics is the theme for the 1958 Bates Winter Carnival. The theme demands a torch relay, and a Bates tradition is born.

If the Weather Channel's apocalyptic forecasts of snow, sleet and wind chill have you feeling numb, then consider the warm welcome that Bates students gave the winter of 1920.

A series of historical photos showing how Bates students pass the long winter months.

If you're a mid-1980s alum, you probably watched the final episode of M*A*S*H at Bates. And you weren't alone: the telecast is the highest-rated TV program ever.

Like an up-and-coming prizefighter, Bates debaters in the early 20th century craved a shot at the best. In 1920, that meant a match versus Harvard, "the mecca of Bates' debating hopes," in the words of the 1920 Mirror.

Batesies celebrate the last stretch of Maine's winter by competing in winter sports, throwing numerous concerts, and even leaving winter behind to represent the college in sunny Florida.

The Puddle Jump has a clear provenance, thanks to its attentive founders, Christopher Callahan '78, Scott Copeland '78 and Lars Llorente '78.

On March 16, 1855, after torturous machinations in the Maine Legislature, Gov. Anson Morrill signed "An Act to Incorporate the Trustees of the Maine State Seminary, the school from which Bates evolved in 1864.

Begun as an outgrowth of the 4/3 option plan in the late 60's, short term has provided Bates students various innovative opportunities for learning both on and off the campus.

Benjamin Mays '20 and the Rev. Martin Luther King had promised each other: He who outlives the other will deliver his friend's last eulogy.

By the end of the 1920s, Bates' string of winning track performances at the prestigious Penn Relays, held each April, had The Bates Student fretting about championship fatigue on campus.

Historical photographs of commencement ceremonies from the past.

The setup for the spectacle is deceptively simple.

Around the time the Beatles sang "Eight Days a Week," Bates was pondering ways to squeeze even more work from students and faculty. One idea, debuting in 1965-66, was a three-year graduation option that introduced Short Term to the Bates academic culture.

Where can you find people dressed like dwarves, wearing funny hats, marching in parades and taking in a lecture or two?

In 1961, two different Bates squads appear on the College Bowl quiz show on TV and reel off seven straight victories.

Sometimes, trying to pinpoint the beginning of a college tradition is like trying to spot the moment of high tide — you only know it'soccurred in hindsight. Other traditions, like the very first Alumni Parade on June 23, 1914, are chronicled from Day 1.

From debating to sports, from music and art to Elderhostel offerings, this historic slideshow takes a look at some Bates summer programs of the past.

In July 1998, Bates began a major restoration of the Lake Andrews area by first draining the pond. As the water level lowered day by day, all sorts of treasures were revealed.

During World War II the Navy stations 120,000 student sailors at 131 U.S. colleges, including Bates, for officer training and accelerated college instruction.

From debating to sports, from music and art to Elderhostel offerings, this historic slideshow takes a look at some Bates summer programs of the past.

On Aug. 12, 1995, student park ranger Philip Otis '95 and another ranger set out to rescue an injured climber on Mount Rainier. In freezing rain, about 200 feet from the man, they slipped and fell to their deaths. Yet Otis' ideas live on at Bates.

After World War II, Bates offers coed student housing to accommodate returning veterans and their families. The community is called Sampsonsville.

A look at past classes and some of their experiences—moving in, registration, bibs and beanies and of course, the Stanton Ride.

In 32 years, the Bates library has proven to be "fluid in its concept" and able "to adapt to the unforeseeable needs of the future," in the words of then-librarian Iva Foster '30. Named for benefactors George and Helen Ladd in 1979, the library was nevertheless a design challenge for its architects.

The seminary's 1857 opening is one of several key dates in Bates' early history.

The dorm and the library—two places integral to the college experience.

This month in Bates history, leading Democrat Sen. Edmund S. Muskie '36 returned to his alma mater in 1969 to give his perspective on the Vietnam War in front of students, faculty and the media in Alumni Gym.

Out-of-control Maine wildfires burn 205,678 acres in October 1947. At Bates, nearly 300 male students, about 40 percent of the student body, volunteer for firefighting duty.

"Bates Aids the Musically Inclined"—so states a headline from a 1937 issue of the Bates Alumnus. This month’s historic slideshow on the Sesquicentennial website provides visual proof of that statement.

Reflecting the shattered innocence of a bygone era, the campus community reacts to the tragedy in the pages of the Bates Student newspaper.

Entering the 1956 football State Series, the University of Maine Black Bears had won nine straight series games and three straight titles, outscoring Colby, Bates and Bowdoin 334 to 67. Bates hadn't beaten Maine since 1949. But the late Norm Levine '57, a backup tackle who wrote sports for the Alumnus, said the 1956 outlook was "highly optimistic."

Oren Cheney goes public with his vision for a new Maine school, telling church leaders in Topsham, Maine, that the need "haunts us sleeping and waking."

Familiar faces around campus didn't just include the professors—from mailmen to maintenance workers, housemothers and nurses—they've been a staple of college life from the beginning.

When the plane carrying daring journalist William Worthy '42 touched down at Logan Airport in December 1981, among his greeters were federal agents, who confiscated books Worthy had acquired while reporting in post-Shah Iran.

Perfect season? Bowl bid? Bates football? Yes, anything seemed possible in post-World War II America, even an undefeated Bobcat football season.

Three days after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, signaling the U.S. entry into war versus the Axis powers, the Bates Student newspaper headlines its Dec. 10, 1941, editorial simply: "War."