Colgate University Mercury collection, A1160
Dates
- 1900 - 1980
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Historical note
The Mercury tradition began at Colgate University when the class of 1879 presented a statue of the god Mercury to the university as their class gift. Over the years, students began to decorate and paint the statue, and then began to unexpectedly remove it from its place in front of Alumni Hall. The statue subsequently became the center of a rivalry between the various classes, as they competed to see who could control it. The victors often displayed the Mercury statue at their class banquets. The tradition continued until 1919, when Colgate faculty ended it, blaming the increased wildness associated with the tradition.
Howard Williams, A History of Colgate, 1819-1869 (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1969), 255-256, http://cu-cel.org/cuhist/.
Extent
0.4 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
- College students -- Social life and customs. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographs. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Guide to the Colgate University Mercury collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Allyson Smally
- Date
- April 21, 2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives, Colgate University Libraries Repository
13 Oak Drive
Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology
Colgate University
Hamilton New York 13346 United States US
315-228-6175
315-228-7934 (Fax)
