Photos: After the Blizzard of '78 at Brandeis
Take a look back at the Brandeis campus after the storm
Photo/Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections DepartmentA cross country skier makes their way across Chapels Field.
The blizzard hit the Boston area on the afternoon on February 6, 1978, and the snow piled up so quickly that thousands of drivers were left stranded on highways. The National Guard was called in to help clear roads. It took days to dig out. Brandeis' campus was closed for a week.
Gwenn Smaxwill, now the Director of Summer and Continuing Studies and Rabb School Disability Coordinator, was working in the registrar's office at the time. She recalled watching out the window from her desk in Usdan Student Center as cars had increasingly greater difficulty making it up the hill on Loop Road. She made it home safely that day. Once the snow stopped and the roads were finally cleared, campus re-opened and she returned to work.
"People just trudged on. There were monumental snow banks everywhere," she said. "...It was impossible to shovel, but the cross country skiing was fabulous."
See the photo gallery above of images from campus after the storm that belong to the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department.
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