Days of Pomp & Circumstance

A LOOK BACK AT COMMENCEMENT AND CLASS DAY EXERCISES OF YESTERYEAR

ALTHOUGH DARTMOUTH'S COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES DATE BACKTO AUGUST 28,1771, CAMERAS DIDN'T CAPTLIRE THE SCENE—OR CLASS DAY. FIRST HELD IN 1854-UNTIL THE LATE 19TH CENTURY SINCE THEN, HUNDREDS OF ARCHIVAL IMAGES HAVE ACCUMULATED IN RAUNER LIBRARY'S SPECIAL COLLECTIONS. THESE RARELY SEEN ARCHIVAL PHOTOS ARE PRIMARILY FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY, REFORE BROWNIES, POLAROIDS AND CELLPHONES BECAME AS UBIQUITOUS AS CAPS AND GOWNS.

In 1929 seniors sat on theGreen in front of the ClassDay speaker's platformbefore parading to theBema to smoke their claypipes and smash them onthe stump of the Old Pine.

In 1907 the band set the pace for aClass Day march to the Old Pine.After the ceremony all studentsheaded to the Senior Fence, whereseniors formed a gauntlet andthrashed the juniors with belts. In1894 (far right, top) the weeklongCommencement proceedingsfeatured a handful of oratingstudents rather than a mainspeaker. In 1918 (far right, bottom)only 81 seniors were on handto receive their diplomas—168classmates could not attend due tomilitary commitments.

Horse-drawn carriages accompanied graduates on campus in 1902, when New Hampshire Gov. Chester Bradley Jordan servedas Commencement speaker. Local railroad schedules mandated that festivities end in time for attendees to catch the 4:10 trainback to Boston. As called for by tradition, Robert William Cone '50 (below, left) fired up his clay pipe on Class Day as one of the612 students who constituted the largest graduating class to date. The class of 1961 (below, middle) marched on graduation daywith the Hopkins Center's iconic vaulted roof taking shape in the background. In 1936 (below, right) vendors hawkedcommemorative photographs to the more than 3,000 guests who attended Commencement.