The Miscellany News

Vassar’s campus hums to the tunes of its students. We welcome the school year with Serenading, celebrate spring with Folk Fest and are regularly found on the quad with a blanket and guitar. Yet, one of the College’s oldest and most beloved musical traditions is long-forgotten. Over a hundred years ago, class songs embodied the vitality of our campus, providing a creative outlet for students and a means of cultivating community. Dozens of Vassar’s Song Books rest deep within the library archives, just waiting to be rediscovered. 

College and class songs have been a part of Vassar since the late 1860s. However, it took nearly two decades before they were formally collected. According to the Nov. 1, 1880 edition of The Miscellany News, then called the Vassar Miscellany, a committee of students was appointed to compile an official college Song Book—a printed booklet containing a collection of oral songs with lyrics and sheet music. That spring, the very first Vassar College Song Book was published and sold for one dollar each. 

An updated edition of the book was printed every year or so. Its contents included both old classics from years past as well as new additions. Several songs, in particular, appear in nearly every published Song Book, such as “Vassar, We Sing Thy Praises,” “The Rose and Silver-Gray” and “Maria Mitchell.” Strangely, a piece called “I was a Rhizopod” must have been quite popular, as it appears in several editions: 

“I was a Rhizopod,

A protoplasmic cell;

I had a little nucleus,

The same I loved so well.

But now I am a man,
By evolutions pow’r;

But O my little nucleus, 

I miss thee ev’ry hour.”

The first mentions of another musical tradition came in the spring of 1910. On June 1, The Miscellany News announced that henceforth, the College would hold an annual class Song Contest and select a Class Song Leader—an elected position in charge of organizing contest activities. The goal of this new initiative was to increase interest in college singing and contribute new additions to the yearly Song Book. On the morning of that year’s Founder’s Day, the College gathered on the steps of Rockefeller Hall to hold the first-ever Song Contest. Each class presented a tune of their own creation to a panel of judges—a collection of professors and other faculty members. The winner was awarded a rose and grey banner—the original colors of the College—and, I assume, major bragging rights. 

This tradition, however, appears to have had the potential to cause drama among students. A 1914 letter to the editor of The Miscellany News intensely criticized that year’s contest. Apparently, the judges became distracted between performances by outside music and chatter and were unable to give each class equal attention. The letter fervently argued the contest was not fair and urged for future years to take the ordeal more seriously. These traditions clearly mattered a great deal to the students—it was a time for them to bond as a class and create a lasting impact on the fabric of their school. 

Another notable aspect of Vassar’s music history is the Alma Mater, referring to a school’s official song or anthem. Throughout the years, there are many classic Vassar tunes that have been considered the Alma Mater. “Hark, Alma Mater,” in particular, was adored by many students. A 1921 letter to the editor of The Miscellany News reads, “It’s the one Vassar song which thrills me and sends cold shivers down my spine.” Yet my personal favorite iteration—which goes only by “Alma Mater”—appears in an 1895 New York Times article reporting on a Vassar alumnae luncheon:

“Bryn Mawr may be more clever,

Wellesley may be more row;

But Vassar shall live forever,

Honored henceforth as now.

Here’s a long life to Vassar,

Wave we her flag unfurled;

Nothing can e’er surpass her,

Queen of the college world.”

However prominent these songs once were to Vassar, their legacy does not appear to have reached the students of today. Both the publication of the Song Book and the annual class Song Contest had sadly dissipated by 1930. The Alma Mater persisted to the mid-20th century, but even that, too, is lost to our ears. Vassar’s classic tunes are drowned out by the music of the present, swept away by history’s tide. Yet, perhaps a murmur of the old class songs can be heard in the music of today’s students. Whether it be Serenading, Folk Fest or strumming on the quad, perhaps the legacy of Vassar’s songs is not lost on us yet.