Vassar Rings and Pins

Some of the smallest items in Universal Collection: A Mark Dion Project, currently on display at the Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center, come from Vassar’s Archives and Special Collections Library. The exhibition is beautiful, fun, and interactive, and it will be up until December 16th. An edited version of the essay below is featured in the exhibition catalog.

Sampling of class rings held by the VC Archives & Special Collections Library

Sampling of class rings held by the VC Archives & Special Collections Library. Photo taken by Delphine Douglass ’18 for the Loeb Art Center.

The earliest pins in the Archives & Special Collections Library were worn by the first class to receive Vassar diplomas. That class, the Class of 1867, consisted of just four women. College lore has it that they designed their class pin in the shape of an ivy leaf because President John C. Raymond had called them his “IV class”. After that, the story of Vassar rings and pins gets complicated.

Between 1867 and 1873, according to a Vassar Miscellany article, each class “adopted some badge of its own — a ring or a pin — or whatever was fancied.” This chaos could only be tolerated for so long, and in 1873 a standard class pin was designed, differing only in class year and motto. Six years later that pin was labeled “clumsy” and “too ornate”, so the design was updated. That was to be the pin for the ages: “no Vassar girl will refuse to wear it, or desire a change.” In 1899, of course, a new design was chosen, and that pin could serve as both a class pin and a college pin –  because there was a difference between the two. Of course.

The difference between a class pin (or ring) and a college pin (or ring) makes sense once you know that, traditionally,  pins (or rings) were chosen and ordered for students in their sophomore year. That being the case, while students were attending Vassar, members of each class could be identified by the style of their class pin (or ring) — or, in the case of freshman, the lack of Vassar jewelry of any kind. College pins (or rings), on the other hand, were standardized and meant to be worn after graduation. In this way, a Vassar Woman could be identified as a Vassar Woman by anyone who recognized the distinctive design of their pin (or ring).

The distinction gets a bit muddy, however, because news accounts and letters tell us the earliest pins and rings were to be worn only by seniors and alumnae —  and when that tradition changed is anyone’s guess. Not really, though. With a bit of scrap and gusto, a curious student of college traditions could piece together a chronology of college pins, class pins, college rings and class rings, determine what rank was required to wear the things, and perhaps even make connections between each era of Vassar jewelry and the art, fashion and culture of American society in general.

Let’s leave that for another day, though, and move on to 1942. When the United States entered World War II, Vassar sophomores voted to hold off on buying rings until victory was won, putting their money into War Bonds instead. After the war, Vassar students took the opportunity to reassess the class/college ring situation. In January 1947, the Legislative Assembly called for a vote, and the college officially had just one college ring! The choice was a simple signet ring, a “rectangle with rounded corners [and] a V with a C engraved on a plain gold face. Today the shape is oval, and you can choose a black or maroon agate face, but the superimposed V and C are much the same.

Reunion 2016!

Using the card catalog , ca 1975

Using the card catalog , ca 1975

We’re so excited to welcome back our alums this weekend. There are so many fabulous events planned it will be hard to choose among them, but don’t forget to stop by the Library! Come in and visit with the Lady Cornaro, sit in your favorite study spot, and see all the changes that have happened since you left.

To get revved up for the festivities, view our Facebook gallery to see if your class can party like its 1925!

bVassar_013

Image of the Sun taken by Maria Mitchell and her students in the 1880s

MARIA MITCHELL EXHIBIT TOUR

Friday, June 10, 10:15, Main Library, Exhibit Area
Presentation by Laura Streett, Vassar College Archivist, on Special Collection’s current exhibit: Seeing the Sun: Maria Mitchell’s Observations, 1868-1888.The exhibit features19 never-before-seen prints made from glass photographic plates re-discovered at the college’s Observatory in 1997. The exhibition also includes other photographs, historical documents, artifacts, and samples of Mitchell’s writings.

GENERAL HOURS

Archives & Special Collections

construction-clip-art-under-construction-sign-md

 

Special Collections will be closed this reunion but we look forward to seeing you soon. Please stop in to see our Maria Mitchell exhibit in the Main Library.

 

Thompson Memorial Library 

libcomp combo

Library computing – yesterday and today!

Friday, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Saturday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon

Art Library

art lib combo - Copy

Art library, pre- and post-renovations

Friday, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Saturday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday, 9:00 am – 12 noon

Music Library

Music combo shorter

Music Library, including new classroom (right)

Friday, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Saturday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
CLOSED on Sunday

The Map Thief

The Map Thief by Michael Blanding
.
Who?
Michael Blanding
Doing what? Talking about his book
Which is? The Map Thief
Which is? The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps
When? Monday, November 9th at 5:30pm
Where? VC Library, Class of ’51 Reading Room

 

 

 

THE BOOK: Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewers – both as beautiful works of art and practical tools to navigate the world. For those that collect them, however, the map trade can be a cutthroat business, inhabited by quirky and in some cases disreputable characters in search of a finite number of extremely rare objects. E. Forbes Smiley III, esteemed and respectable antiquarian map dealer, spent years doubling as a map thief until he was finally arrested while delicately tearing maps out of books in the Yale University Library in 2005. He would later confess to the theft of 97 maps valued at over $3m total, and serve 42 months in prison for his crimes.

blandingTHE AUTHOR: Michael Blanding is the author of The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World’s Favorite Soft Drink (Avery, 2010), and a journalist with more than 15 years of experience writing long-form narrative and investigative journalism. Previously a staff writer and editor at Boston magazine, Blanding has since freelanced for publications including WIRED, Slate, The Nation, The New Republic, Consumers Digest, and the Boston Globe Magazine, where he has focused on investigative stories involving intensive research and interviews. Blanding has been named a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, and a network fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. An amateur map lover, Blanding has a collection of international subway maps and bought his first antiquarian map while reporting this book.