A Matter of Degree

In Dartmouth's early days, no two diplomas looked alike. Students supplied their own sheepskins, featuring Latin text handwritten by the graduates'friends or relatives Many of these early diplomas, now housed in Rauner Library, display idiosyncratic flourishes, from the swirled faces on the 1774 master's diploma (a) of Levi Frisbie, class of 1771, to the herald atop Timothy Cushman's 1791 bachelors diploma (b) Caleb More, class of 1787, anachronistically credits King George iii as the authority behind his degree (c). The sheepskin of John Wheelock Smith, class of 1804 and son of a professor, bears symbols of the arts and sciences (d). Todays mass produced parchmens lack such individual touches. But just as in the old days once the lack such individual become official and students become alumni College diplomas