As Tony Sanfilippo thumbs through the pages of the recently published Time and Change: 150 Years of The Ohio State University, he pauses at a black and white photo of an Ohio State student sitting in a tree and wearing a crown of leaves.

The picture was taken nearly a century ago.

“That one is actually beautiful. It almost looks like art,” he says. “That's 1926. ... She looks like somebody who stepped out of a Robert Browning poem.”

The image is one of over 300 in Time and Change. Published by The Ohio State University Press, the coffee table book encapsulates Ohio State’s 150-year history as the university celebrates its sesquicentennial. For Sanfilippo, the press’s director, it’s special being a key part of the book’s creation.

“Books are going to last longer than most of us,” he said. “They’re going to be out there forever, and it’s our way of making a mark that’s permanent.”

The book’s development began about two years ago when university archivist Tamar Chute reached out to Sanfilippo about a project regarding the sesquicentennial. After browsing through other universities’ publications and the press’s own works on Ohio State history, the pair decided to create a book that would take readers on a visual journey through the university’s past.

After nailing down the book’s general structure, Chute sifted through the University Archives, selecting images that best captured the look and feel of Ohio State through the years. To reflect the school’s more contemporary history, university photographers took modern images to give the book a complete depiction of the school through time.

“For example, there’s an image of High Street from 1888, and it’s juxtaposed with one of High Street from today,” Sanfilippo said. “That was really what we were looking for.”