Collection: 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

Subjects

College students -- Social life and customs. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Photographs. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus