Founder's Day

Students in costume at the faculty-student baseball game
This collection includes more than 3,500 glass plate negatives created by photographer Edmund Wolven. Most of the images are of Vassar College people, events, buildings and grounds, but there is a subset that relates to other local educational institutions and Poughkeepsie. Wolven, born in Poughkeepsie in 1876, worked for many schools and colleges in the area. He began taking photos for Vassar College in the late 1890s, and became the official college photographer between approximately 1900 and 1910. The latest photographs in this collection are from the 1940s.
Content Warning
The Vassar College Archives within the Digital Library include some images, texts, and material items that are racist, xenophobic, or otherwise harmful. The Vassar Libraries have provided descriptive text and additional notes whenever possible to alert Digital Library users to these items. The Engaged Pluralism Initiative Race and Racism in Historical Collections Project Group is working with the library on contextualizing and facilitating community conversations about these materials. For more information see: https://library.vassar.edu/rrhc
Students in costume at the faculty-student baseball game
Students at the faculty-student baseball game
Students in costume at the faculty-student baseball game
Students dressed as crew boat racers with field hockey sticks as paddles
Dean C. Mildred Thompson dressed in wings and a halo at the festivities after the Founder's Day parade
Students boxing at the "County Fair"
Spectators at the faculty-student baseball game
Song contest
Class of 1924 at the song contest
Class of 1924 at the song contest
Nine-pin game, set up by students in pirate costumes
Class of 1924 marching to the song contest
President MacCracken giving the Founder's Day address on the steps of the President's House
Class of 1928 performing at the song contest
An unidentified woman placing a wreath on President James Monroe Taylor's grave at the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, which was visited by a contingent from Vassar on Founder's Day
Students in costume for the Founder's Day parade
Students in costume at the faculty-student baseball game
Henry Noble MacCracken at bat at the faculty-student baseball game. Sarah H. McLean (VC 1930) is playing catcher
Song contest
Students costumed as members of Queen Victoria's court
Here you will find digitized archival collections, oral histories, and more. We are continually expanding the collections and improving access. You may find additional digital resources that reside outside the digital library here, and a selection of Online Exhibitions here.
Collections Overview
The Archives & Special Collections Library is part of the Vassar College Libraries system. It holds the rare book, manuscript, and archival collections of the college. It collects, preserves, and makes available rare and unique collections, and also engages in teaching and outreach activities. This collection of finding aids describe items in both the Virginia B. Smith Memorial Manuscript Collection and the College Archives.
The Vassar College herbarium holds over 8,000 specimens of vascular plants, bryophytes, and algae. Holdings are primarily from northeastern North America, and include collections made by several notable 19th century botanists. To learn more about this project visit the website here.
Vassar College's institutional repository reflects the research and scholarly output of the Vassar College community. It provides access to senior theses, peer reviewed open access articles, and projects from a wide range of disciplines.