# American style in the 50s & 60s (photos)...



## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Basically, this thread is intended to be a dedicated thread for all the old photos members come across from the 50s/60s. Please post what you find. This thread originated with a general conversation some of us had on other threads, the main questions basically:
(1) How did Americans dress in the 50s and 60s?
(2) How did classic American clothing inform today's 'trad' style?

(To keep this thread tidy, I submit that when members reply they delete the images from their reply wherever possible, so we don't repeat the same images endlessly.)


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

The following photos are all from the 1950s.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

More photos from the 1950s (from the Am/Trad thread).


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## Harris (Jan 30, 2006)

Good post. I look forward to more photos. Ivy-leaning trad. Good stuff. Cheers, Harris


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## Russell Street (Nov 28, 2004)

Fantastic! Better than I could have hoped for.
Thanks *Dr.D.*
David


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## Russell Street (Nov 28, 2004)

Just a thought - 
LOVE the photos, but personal memories of 50's-60's American menswear would really interest me also.
What* you* wore.
What *your father* wore.
What *your Grandfather * wore.
Not everybody can produce photos, but I'm sure that most Trads of a certain age can well remember Dad's wardrobe in that softy lit bedroom that they weren't really supposed to go into...
The shoes...
The shirts...
The suits...
All in order, all in repair...
A _Gentleman's_ wardrobe.
Please share your knowledge?

David


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Harris_
> 
> Good post. I look forward to more photos. Ivy-leaning trad. Good stuff. Cheers, Harris


Finding good 'Ivy League' photos is really tough, since school archives are hit or miss. Not impossible, however, it just takes a helluva lot of patience and careful searching.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Here's a series of photos from the 1950s, all dancing.



These two photos were taken in the Bronx...I think (another memory failure).





Gotta love those saddle shoes!


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Here's a selection of more photos from the 50s, taken in and around the home.


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## Russell Street (Nov 28, 2004)

Better & better!


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Cuffs on everything.


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## Tomasso (Aug 17, 2005)

How about an iconic 50's ride.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Some photos from the 50s. The first two are from 1959, the last is not specifically dated.


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## 3button Max (Feb 6, 2006)

the human pyriamid is great. What great pix Damage are any of these family photos?


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Photos of couples in the 1950s.


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## Harris (Jan 30, 2006)

Is that Dobie in the last photo? Put down 'ya book, boy! Kiss 'at girl!


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

All photos from the 1950s.
Students in a dorm at Dartmouth College.



The next two from Kenyon College.





These last two of Harvard.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

All photos from the 1950s. The first two are just general photos.





These two photos are from a reunion.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Fun times...


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

College student with a lot of homework in 1952.



College photos from 1955.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Two photos from Dartmouth College in winter 1952.





Some general college/student photos. First up, "snow square dancing" in 1955.



Winter, 1955.



In the library of Wilbraham Academy, 1955.


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## n/a (Sep 4, 2002)

Great photos, thank you DD.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Miscellaneous photos from the 1950s of students. The first from 1951, the second from 1951 and shows coach Joe Justice speaking to his team (school unknown). Lots of penny loafers with white socks.





Students dancing at Michigan State in 1952.



Oregon State basketball team in 1954.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Photos of members of the "Glee Club" of the Pennington School(?), 1955.


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## Fogey (Aug 27, 2005)

Great photographs as always, Dr Damage. But in keeping with my 1910 peak of civilisation argument, here are some Glee Clubs from 1910:


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Photos from Choate.
This one is dated from the 1950s.



These are all dated from the 1960s.


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## Harris (Jan 30, 2006)

Some really great photos. Keep 'em coming! How do you find them?


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## xcubbies (Jul 31, 2005)

Neat photos, but no goldfish and no phone booths. Can it really be the '50s?


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Harris_
> 
> Some really great photos. Keep 'em coming! How do you find them?


You need: (1) a slow work day, (2) a high-speed internet connection, (3) bosses which pay no attention to what you are doing, and (4) patient use of Google. Basically for the Choate photos I typed in "choate alumni" and it came up with the alumni site, which has a link to photo galleries. I chose one and _voila_. Easy as pie, except that some institutions have no photos or they have photo archives which are extremely difficult to use. What I really want to find are more photos like those two of Charles Knapp I posted on the AmTrad Men thread, basically real people in real situations wearing real clothes, _in the present day_. Finding photos like that is nothing more than luck.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

More photos from Choate from the 1960s. Note that all of these photos and the ones above are pre-Rosemary.


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## Harris (Jan 30, 2006)

I'm afraid to ask just what in the hell is going on in that last photo. Anybody else hear the Twilight Zone theme playing in the background?


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## Tom Buchanan (Nov 7, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Harris_
> 
> I'm afraid to ask just what in the hell is going on in that last photo. Anybody else hear the Twilight Zone theme playing in the background?


Strangely enough, I can help out here. There was a period where each prep school's headmaster tried to adopt a fun idosynchrosy to humanize them. I think that Deerfield's headmaster used to drive around in a horse and buggy. Choate's headmaster, Seymour St. John (I think was his name), had a pet otter. No, I did not go to Choate. I just recall reading this in a book.

As to the kid playing the clarinet, I have no idea.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Yeah, that kid appears to be looking around for a quick exit in case "they come for me next"...

Funny they would think they would feel a need to 'humanize' the headmaster -- were headmasters normally monsters?


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Although this thread is dedicated to the 50s & 60s, let me just add these two photos from Choate for some specific details. The first is from 1970 and note the use of the button-down and canvas sneakers on the fellow reclining on the car hood (old E-Type, wonder if it's the 12-pot?).



This photo is from 1984/1985 and the young man in the middle is looking the part.


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## pendennis (Oct 6, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Doctor Damage_
> 
> Although this thread is dedicated to the 50s & 60s, let me just add these two photos from Choate for some specific details. The first is from 1970 and note the use of the button-down and canvas sneakers on the fellow reclining on the car hood (old E-Type, wonder if it's the 12-pot?).
> 
> This photo is from 1984/1985 and the young man in the middle is looking the part.


Doc, the car looks more like the MG 2+2, than a Jag. The back is a little too square, and the front-end is not the aerodynamically-shaped snout of the Jag.

Dennis
If you wish to control the future, then create it.
Est unusquisque faber ipsae suae fortunae


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## Chris H (Oct 30, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by Doctor Damage_
> 
> Although this thread is dedicated to the 50s & 60s, let me just add these two photos from Choate for some specific details. The first is from 1970 and note the use of the button-down and canvas sneakers on the fellow reclining on the car hood (old E-Type, wonder if it's the 12-pot?).


Great pictures Dr D. I really appreciate the trouble you take to locate and post them.

The car is indeed an MGB GT from between 1966-70. I owned three of these cars back in the early 1970s.

Chris


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Thought I'd bump this one up for our newer members who may have missed it the first time around. Also, I've just added below some photos which were on the "big thread", but are appropriate here.

Lost the info on this photo, date unknown (probably 1960s).



This one is circa 1950s.



The iconic photo: "Buzz gets his girl" in 1965.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

These photos are from Princeton, dated 1964.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Couple more from Princeton. The first from 1964.



This one is apparently from 1946, in "the Nassau tavern".


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Here's "Princeton University student Eric Grinnell fixing the wheel on his horse drawn carriage" in 1958...


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

More photos from Princeton. This one is from 1965, note the wide variations in dress. Lumberjack shirt versus madras and tweed jackets.



The next two are a bit outside the historical range of this thread, but are interesting. Both are of the "Princeton Charter Club" members in 1929.


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## csheehan (Feb 27, 2004)

*1956 ad from New Yorker*

March 24, 1956 from the New Yorker DVD's









I want a light grey suit like that.

Chris


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## AddisonBelmont (Feb 2, 2006)

These are the schools I hoped to go to--in 1961, when I was ten years old-- schools where everyone was as wholesome & clean-cut as Dobie Gillis & David Nelson of the perfectly combed hair & the cool tweed jackets. 

Unfortunately, it was another ten years before I actually got there, by which time everyone had adopted the Bob Dylan look. I gave it my best shot, faced the fact that to my friends on campus I looked like a dorky hippie wannabe, to everyone else I looked like Abbie Hoffman and therefore needed to be watched by the nearest policeman, and that in the mirror, I merely looked pathetic, with my scraggly sideburns and John Lennon glasses that got bent playing footballand never looked right after that.

Then I got smart. Started shopping at the Salvation Army, and went ahead and bought Dobie's & David's old tweed jackets, worn out chinos & saddle shoes and went with the Brylcreem look in my hair. My friends on campus still thought I looked dorky--just different--but I got by with it beause I was an art major, and was therefore expected to be odd. Of course, I was considered even odder among my fellow artists than I was in the world beyond the studio walls, but that was OK because they weren't the people I palled around with anyway. But eventually, even the art majors got used to the way I dressed, and somewhere, I have a Polaroid photo of me in a shaggy mohair arglye sweater & rumpled cords, surrounded by a roomful of kids in cutoffs & t-shirts & sandals, and we're all laughing our heads off about something. 

Anyway, here it is 3O years later and I don't look much different, except, of course, for the gray hair & the extra 2O pounds: still wearing tweeds & chinos & argyle socks & saddle shoes, just newer (or newer old) versions thereof. And the funny part is that a few of my old pals--them, formerly, of the ragged cutoffs, Birkenstocks & Keep on Truckin' t-shirts-- now dress the same way I do. Go figure.


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## undarted (Jul 5, 2005)

Nice pictures, but pictures from the 50s and 60s seem straight out of pleasantville. White socks, high water pants

Was one of the early pictures posted a desegregation photo? Folks don't look too happy. 60s pictures always remind me of the calm before the storm - culturally speaking. 

My favorite is the last couple of pictures from the 20s. I love that era. Those suits could be worn today. Now that is classic trad!


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Now for some photos from Yale. The first two are from 1959.





This one is from Yale dated c1900. Must have been a smaller campus in those days!


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Here's a photo from 1957 of a bunch of Yale students who apparently managed to get a fictious candidate elected in the Harvard student elections!



Wonderfully iconic colour photo from Yale, 1959.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

This one is not from any particular school but shows two "student travellers" in 1947.


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## hockeyinsider (May 8, 2006)

Ugh. Why can't kids dress like that anymore? They look so much older than today's collegians too.


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## rsmeyer (May 14, 2006)

*To Hockeyinsider*

The across-the-board dumbing-down from MTV, "youth culture", and a generalized deterioration of standards.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Below I have cross-posted (from the "Asian Trad" thread) the book cover and inside scan of _Take Ivy_, by T. Hayashida. Apparently, the photographer travelled to the US and spent a month photographing students on the Ivy League campuses in the mid-60s. As near as I can tell, the book was first published in 1965 and reprinted in 1973.

Repetition? Yes, but scroll down for the real fun...

...two more scans of inside pages!


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## Tom Buchanan (Nov 7, 2005)

Doctor Damage said:


> Below I have cross-posted (from the "Asian Trad" thread) the book cover and inside scan of _Take Ivy_, by T. Hayashida. Apparently, the photographer travelled to the US and spent a month photographing students on the Ivy League campuses in the mid-60s. As near as I can tell, the book was first published in 1965 and reprinted in 1973.
> 
> Repetition? Yes, but scroll down for the real fun...
> 
> ...two more scans of inside pages!


Those shorts and pants look like they hurt.

Perhaps that is the soprano section of the glee club? Thank goodness for Bill's khakis.


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

Tom Buchanan said:


> Those shorts and pants look like they hurt.
> 
> Perhaps that is the soprano section of the glee club? Thank goodness for Bill's khakis.


No kidding! Looks like a flood is coming, too.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Below is a scan of a greeting card I bought in Denver. I thought the photo was interesting: it's definitely a 3/2 roll, possibly a sack, no cuffs, but I can't decide if it's an old photo or a modern one which has been made to look old. Any thoughts?


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## mpcsb (Jan 1, 2005)

Tom Buchanan said:


> Those shorts and pants look like they hurt.
> 
> Perhaps that is the soprano section of the glee club? Thank goodness for Bill's khakis.


Thank goodness indeed, at least there's room for everything:icon_smile_wink:


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

More photos taken on American university campuses in the mid-60s by a bunch of Japanese VAN club members on a tour of the U.S. There's some amazing stuff here, which should bring back memories for some of our older members.

Columbia:



Harvard:





Princeton:


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

More photos, these are from the Yale campus.


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## paper clip (May 15, 2006)

I never realized that 'flood' pants were so popular back then. They sure got me ridiculed by my classmates in the early 80s!


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## rsmeyer (May 14, 2006)

Students looked so much better in those days-which were my days too (early 60's).


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Photos of students from the American University. Dated, in order: 1950s, 1955, 1965, and 1960s.


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## paper clip (May 15, 2006)

Pants all seem really short....interesting. These students look good. Thanks for the photos.


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## Untilted (Mar 30, 2006)

these short pants are making me glad that I cuffed at least one pair of bill's really short.


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## Markus (Sep 14, 2004)

*How interesting is the rest of this book?*



Doctor Damage said:


> Below I have cross-posted (from the "Asian Trad" thread) the book cover and inside scan of _Take Ivy_, by T. Hayashida. Apparently, the photographer travelled to the US and spent a month photographing students on the Ivy League campuses in the mid-60s. As near as I can tell, the book was first published in 1965 and reprinted in 1973.
> 
> Repetition? Yes, but scroll down for the real fun...
> 
> ...two more scans of inside pages!


Is it worth seeking out?

Markus


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Markus said:


> Is it worth seeking out?
> 
> Markus


Based on those photos, yes (assuming one is interested in a snapshot of Ivy League style in 1965). However, the book is decades out of print, and seems a very desirable item in Japan, so the chances of finding/buying a copy are virtually nil for North Americans. I suspect that most extant copies are squirreled away in collections. Incredibly, a movie was made by the same folks who took the photos on the campuses, so that's out there too.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Photos from Dakota State in 1955. The first two photos are from registration day, the third a dance that evening. Note fair isle sweater in the first photo, and argyle socks on the guy behind the table.







Here's the student senate of 1955.


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## Curator (Aug 4, 2005)

Some shots from lovely Haverford College, bring back memories, Septa and Concordia?

-Curator '07

(The first two images are in the scope of the thread, second two not so much but I couldn't resist.)




























Rufus Jones, great American Quaker and Haverfordian.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Davidson College, 1957, the newspaper team.



Greystone, 1950.



University of Hawaii, unknown date (left), and students of an unidentified high school in 1954 (right).


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Students at John Hopkins checking out the scenery.



These photos are from Kent State in the 1950s (#1 & #2) and the newspaper editors in 1963 (#3).





Kent State students in 1946.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Photo from Lowry in the 1950s.



Graduating students from MUN in the 1950s.



Students at Palomar College, 1952, going on a "field trip" (this one's for you, Familyman!).



Student in the Rhodes college(?) library, 1953.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Photo of students from Southern Illinois University (1955).



Photos from Stout State, first two 1956 and third from 1963.







From St. Dunstan's at exam time (date unknown).


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## mpcsb (Jan 1, 2005)

*Curious...*

The Stout State photo, what are those guys doing at table saws? Is that a class of some sort? My dad taught me some cabinet making as a hobby, but can you take that at certain colleges? Just curious.

DD thanks for the photos, you do us great service.


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## Haystack (Mar 17, 2005)

I'm guessing that Stout State is now UW-Stout. 

If that is the case, I don't think that I have ever met a shop/industrial arts teacher from Wisconsin that did not graduate from Stout.


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## Teacher (Mar 14, 2005)

mpcsb said:


> The Stout State photo, what are those guys doing at table saws? Is that a class of some sort? My dad taught me some cabinet making as a hobby, but can you take that at certain colleges? Just curious.


It's hard to tell what most of the guys are doing, but it looks like the one closese to the camera is cutting dados.


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## Teacher (Mar 14, 2005)

Doctor Damage said:


> This one is from Yale dated c1900. Must have been a smaller campus in those days!


I notice there's a black gentleman in this photo. It's a little surprising (and nice) to see that Yale was integrated as far back as 1900.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

University of Kansas, date unknown (circa 1950s).



University of Maryland, 1952.



Washington University in the 1950s (the second photo is 1955).


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Not sure where I found this one, but it's the "men's varsity club".



University of Virginia, student radio station. In order: 1958, 1959, 1961, 1966.


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## familyman (Sep 9, 2005)

Doc, 
These pictures are the best. I LOVE the deer sweater (for lack of a proper term) on the men's varsity club gent above. I have a similar sweater with the sleeves cut off and the collar frayed nearly half off and lord knows what sort of horrible stains on it as a lucky hunting sweater. I've always loved sweaters with cool patterns.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

familyman said:


> Doc,
> These pictures are the best. I LOVE the deer sweater (for lack of a proper term) on the men's varsity club gent above. I have a similar sweater with the sleeves cut off and the collar frayed nearly half off and lord knows what sort of horrible stains on it as a lucky hunting sweater. I've always loved sweaters with cool patterns.


I've seen old Bean sweaters just like the one you describe on eBay, so maybe you can get a replacement.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Freshman students at St. Bonaventure University in 1954, and being inspected by an upper-year student in 1957.
Personally, I really like the "silhouette" of the upper-year student.

So why are the freshmen wearing beanies and tags?

The following text from the student manuals helps explain.

*1941-42 Student Manual:*

_The Bonaventure Man

He acts upon principle. His norm of conduct is not the Spartan "Shall I be caught?" but the Christian "Is it right or wrong?" No other approval can substitute for him the approval of his own conscience.

He cherishes self respect. Clean of thought, or word, or action, he prizes his honor as the gospel "pearl of great price," as a radiant heritage come down to him from generation of noble fore bears.

He is considerate towards others. Putting them in his own place, transferring to them his own personality, he treats them as courteously as he should wish to be treated himself. He is prompt to assist them in their need, even anticipating their request.

He observes gentlemanly restraint. He is cheerful without being boisterous; companionable without being bore some; studious without being pedantic. He has the happy faculty of enjoying himself with moderation and therefore without regret.

He has a keen sense of fairplay. He curries no favor, seeks no undue privileges. He knows how to take a just defeat without claiming some abstruse "moral victory". He recognizes courage and ability even though they work to the disadvantage of the home team.

He is loyal-to his teams, to his fellows, to his Alma Mater. His loyalty-no merely abstract ideal, however lucent-makes him active in the affairs of the school. He can always be depended upon to do his part.

He has a hundred admirable traits, all amounting to the one: he is always and everywhere a gentleman.
_

*1955-56 Student Handbook:*

_TO BE OBSERVED IMMEDIATELY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY

1. Freshmen must wear at all times a regulation "DINK" and tie, which they shall obtain from the Student Senate. Also a neat and legible sign (of white cardboard, at least 6'X6') with his first and last name printed thereon in letters at least two inches high. These shall be warn at all times and in plain view, except in the Chapel.

2. Freshmen must carry lumberjack matches at all times.

3. Freshmen must not use center path across campus or the main or right hand entrance to De La Roche Hall. The entrance nearest the Athletic field is for all Freshmen.

4. Freshmen must greet Priests, Professors, and all upperclassmen politely and with natural liking as "Father", "Sir", "Mister" etc.

5. Freshmen must obtain and carry copies of rules; must memorize all student songs and cheers and names of Student Senators.

6. The retirement from the Chapel and all other school activities is in order of seniority. Freshmen must remain seated until all others have left.

7. Freshmen must pay an initiation fee of $3.50, immediately, to Treasurer of Student Senate at registration. 1/7 of this amount will be returned to the Treasurer of the Class after his election.

8. Freshmen must rise when a priest or Senator enters a room.

9. Freshmen cannot smoke on campus, except in their private rooms or small cafeteria.

10. Freshmen shall give place to all Student Senators and upper classmen except in Chapel, local theaters or class rooms.

11. Freshmen shall be at the immediate disposal of the Student Senate at all times for the performance of all detailed work in connection with any university activity.

12. All day-hop freshmen must observe Frosh rules while on campus.

13. Freshmen must support all school activities.

14. All freshmen activities, individual or group, are to be approved and supervised by Student Senate.

15. Freshmen must attend all Frosh meetings without exception. Freshmen shall sit in a definite order assignment by the Student Senate at the meetings.

These rules shall be enforced to the letter. Infraction of any of them will be punished by measures to be decided by the Student Senate in conjunction with the Director of Student Activities and the Dean of Discipline.

Disregard of rules will be punished by:
(a) Work list.
(b) The Old Mill to be given publicly at a pre-notified time under supervision of the Student Senate._


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Most of these seem to be more Ivy Leaque style than "trad," I think. Still, great nostalgia here.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

This is a shameless bump of this old thread for some of our newer members who may have missed it the first time around...

DocD


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## PittDoc (Feb 24, 2007)

I stumbled across this link with more scans from the "Take Ivy" book. Higher resolution and different from DD scans earlier in this thread. Truly inspirational stuff... Follow the link for pics. Below is the cover.

https://acontinuouslean.com/2008/05/19/take-ivy/


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Some things never change. I see guys with untucked shirts, in t-shirts only, etc. Not everyone was perfect back then. It's a sight better than a lot of colleges now though.


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

Jovan said:


> Some things never change. I see guys with untucked shirts, in t-shirts only, etc. Not everyone was perfect back then. It's a sight better than a lot of colleges now though.


True, that. You don't see anybody's underwear, and there's nary a flip-flop in sight.


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## Zot! (Feb 18, 2008)

Topsider said:


> True, that. You don't see anybody's underwear, and there's nary a flip-flop in sight.


I swear, the sagging thing really hit some trans-generational nerve (sort of like the concept women showing some ankle back in 1887), to the point where it got blown all out of proportion.

FWIW- sagging was really only huge with the baggy pants craze of the mid-to late 90's, and was only ever really popular either in the ghetto or amongst skater-punks/hip-hop wannabes around high school age. If one were to take a stroll down the Berkeley or Stanford campus on a weekday I'm sure he'd see lots of sartorial atrocities, but I bet you there'd be nary a sag in sight.

Nonetheless, the concept of exposed underwear, along with the aforementioned baggy pants, is now seared into everybody's conscious. I'm sure too that there were people complaining about "kids with their long hair and bell bottoms" well into 1985.


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## bandofoutsiders (Jul 26, 2007)

Doctor Damage said:


> Freshman students at St. Bonaventure University in 1954, and being inspected by an upper-year student in 1957.
> Personally, I really like the "silhouette" of the upper-year student.
> 
> So why are the freshmen wearing beanies and tags?
> ...


Ah, yes, the bygone years of the Hitler Youth. Such a rich tradition of abuse, humiliation, and servitude.


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

Zot! said:


> FWIW- sagging was really only huge with the baggy pants craze of the mid-to late 90's, and was only ever really popular either in the ghetto or amongst skater-punks/hip-hop wannabes around high school age.


Maybe in CA.

I'm on the East Coast, and sadly, the jailin' look is still alive and unwell here. Maybe it's our proximity to NY and DC.

As for the difference between high school and college attire, I'd be hard pressed to see any. The clothes may be more expensive (e.g., purchased from Abercrombie instead of Hollister or Aeropostale), but that's about it.


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## bandofoutsiders (Jul 26, 2007)

What surprises me most about the photos I have seen from 'Take Ivy' is the frequency of shorts. I wouldn't have expected that.

As for college style, I went to a prominent MA university where students wore sweatpants to class. But then again none of the profs wore ties. People could basically wear whatever they wanted; sometimes I'd put on an old suit for kicks, but certainly not to look 'presentable' or 'gentlemanly.' We forget that the kids in the 'Take Ivy' photos are exhibiting their own sort of sloppiness, their own free and easy attitude. They dressed that way because it was young and cool, not because of any mandate of 'gentlemanliness' or tradition. 

As for the sagging look, hip-hop dressers don't begrudge me my style, so I won't begrudge them theirs.


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## Zot! (Feb 18, 2008)

Topsider said:


> Maybe in CA.
> 
> I'm on the East Coast, and sadly, the jailin' look is still alive and unwell here. Maybe it's our proximity to NY and DC.


At the risk of sounding elitist here, I think socioeconomic status plays a big role. But I think that has always been the case. I think if you look at some of the pictures from non-Ivy schools that have been posted here you'll see a lot more denim and plain white T-shirts than you do in "Take Ivy." It's also important to keep in mind that the photos in that book were not taken at random, and the point of the collection is to showcase examples of a certain kind of preconceived notion of what "typical" Ivy League college students would look like. So the sample is a little skewed.

One thing that has struck me browsing all of these pictures is how far the penny loafer has fallen. In most of these photos they seem to predominate among both the neatly dressed and not so neatly alike. All traditional shoe styles took a hit when Nikes came out, but the penny loafer has never really reclaimed its status for some reason.


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## randomdude (Jun 4, 2007)

Wow, good thread to resurrect even if it was just spam. I've never seen these pictures before!


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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)

Life had some sort of photo essay on Bowdoin College in 1957








Niote back collar button


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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)




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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)




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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)




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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)

*Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt*


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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)




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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Zot! said:


> All traditional shoe styles took a hit when Nikes came out, but the penny loafer has never really reclaimed its status for some reason.


I'm doing my part by wearing wingtips and boat shoes. Maybe this year I'll get some penny loafers to round out the deal.

Great photos in this thread.


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## charlie500 (Aug 22, 2008)

60's madras:


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## steedappeal (May 10, 2004)

The Kenyon students appear to be in the classic professorial company of the late, great poet/essayist
John Crowe Ransom. Great photo!


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