Western students in bathing suits on the shore of Lake Irwin, 1940.

Description

A group of nine Western students in bathing suits apply suntan lotion to themselves on the shore of Lake Irwin in a publicity photograph, 1940. [In 1940, an enterprising public relations director for the college, eager to increase enrollment and scotch rumors concerning Gunnison's harsh climate, arranged for a Denver photographer to take photographs of Western students at Lake Irwin--rafting and fishing, applying suntan lotion, and making snowballs--in early July. We'll never know whether the device would have helped with enrollment, because World War II began the next year.] -- M. Hatcher notes