The end of the Fall semester is always associated with the holiday break. As for faculty and staff, we go our separate ways for awhile, and head off to enjoy a break with friends, family, and loved ones.

In our efforts to bridge the gap between the past and present, we share with the Class of 2015 a look back 100 years to Wednesday, June 16, 1915, when Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduated 87 men, one of the largest classes on record at that time for the Institute.

This Friday is RPI's 4th annual Spirit Day, in which member's of the Rensselaer community are encouraged to show their pride by wearing or displaying RPI gear. We consider spirit everyday here in the Archives where it pervades the memorabilia collections that we house. We have certain items because they say Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute but we don't know who owned them, wore them, or touched them. We simply know that at some point in history certain items had particular significance to someone!

In our efforts to bridge the gap between the past and present, we share with the Class of 2014 a look back one hundred years ago, when Rensselaer bid farewell to the Class of 1914.

Just for fun, we decided to mine the archives for some of those interesting items that don't quite fit into our usual posts. Instead, we selected some gems that convey a campus mood or a mindset if you will!

In 1947, Samuel Rezneck (Professor of History at the Institute) replied to a researcher who asked why the Institute had adopted cherry and white as its school colors. We have Rezneck's response to the query which reveals some colorful articles he found in The Rensselaer Polytechnic that I sought out for myself and couldn't resist sharing with our readers.

I often browse through old issues of The Polytechnic looking for answers to burning questions. Today's question brought me to the 1925 issues. Sometimes I happen to read headlines, articles or ads that make me smile. Allow me to share my latest find. :)

Winter Carnival is this weekend, and I'm excited to see a couple of old traditions being resurrected for the event.

The Hockey Line is a long-standing (no pun intended) tradition at RPI.  When and why did it start?  Before 1972, student tickets rotated through sections on the North and West sides during the season so that everyone had a chance to sit in the best seats on the North side.  Brace poles, in place until 1983, obstructed the view from some sections.  In 1972, about 900 seats in sections H and K were sold on a first come, first served basis.  The remaining sections continued to rotate.  Students lined up in the Rathskellar about 12 hours in advance to purchase thes

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