1300 plates
Founder's Day has included a variety of activities since the first celebration on April 29th,1866, Matthew Vassar's birthday. The images in this series document visits to the founder's grave, step-singing and the Song Contest, the faculty-student baseball game, parades, and various performances. Attendees of the baseball game, the parades, and the performances were encouraged to dress in costume, according to either a predetermined theme or individual whim. With some frequency, these costumes and performances were based on racist or stereotypical representations of marginalized groups, including blackface, redface, and yellowface. Similarly, the faculty play or skit show which was given on the evening of Founder's Day, included racist and stereotypical costumes and performances.
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, two in stereotypical Native American dress, another in what might have been intended to represent Romani dress
Students dressed as pirates at the faculty-student baseball game
Class of 1929 at the song contest
Professor Lucy Maynard Salmon's grave, Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery
Song contest
Song contest
Dean C. Mildred and her dog at the faculty-student baseball game. A student dressed in stereotypical Indian costume is also pictured, and may be in dark makeup
Student throwing a ball at the faculty-student baseball game
Spectators at the faculty-student baseball game
Students at the faculty-student baseball game
Students in costume
Students dressed as pirates at the faculty-student baseball game
Henry Noble MacCracken at the faculty-student baseball game
Faculty team at the faculty-student baseball game
Song contest
Song contest
Students in costume at the faculty-student baseball game. One is dressed in stereotypical Indian costume and may be in brownface. The other's costume may be meant to represent that of a Romani woman
Students in costume at the faculty-student baseball game
Spectators at the faculty-student baseball game
Students in costume at the faculty-student baseball game
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 5,000 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.
