The College Seal
Apparently busy with other concerns, the College's Trustees adopted the seal of the former Williamstown Free School upon incorporation of Williams College in 1793. The Free School seal pictured three students with books in their hands standing before their instructor who was seated in a chair. Encircling the device was the legend: E Liberalitate E. Williams Armigeri; translating roughly as: Through the generosity of E. Williams, soldier. In 1802, the Trustees voted to procure a new seal, but this seal, our current one, did not come into common usage until 1805.
Over the years, the new seal has been printed with many variations. Retaining the original legend, it currently pictures a globe, a telescope, an inkstand and pen, a scroll, a spray of laurel, and a miscellaneous object, perhaps a book, all beneath the rays of the sun. The objects in the seal are said to represent the four sciences of the Quadrivium: Geometry, Astronomy, Arithmetic and Music. Laurel is generally regarded as a symbol of honor, victory and of excellence. The rays of the sun are perhaps an allegorical reference to learning.
The Color Purple
"Early in the summer of 1865 the Williams baseball team were about to leave Williamstown to play the final game of the series against Harvard, and just before our departure two young ladies -- my sister and my cousin* -- who were very much interested in the result of the game, learned that while Harvard had adopted magenta as its College color, Williams was without any. They hurriedly purchased some royal purple ribbon and made small rosettes out of it, and pinning one on each member of the team, said "Let this royal purple be the Williams color, and may it bring you the victory over Harvard."
"The royal purple joyfully floated from the mast-head that next day, for the game was handsomely won. This victory gave Williams the championship in the intercollegiate contests between Princeton, Harvard and Williams, and the royal purple has ever since been the banner under which Williams has won so many brilliant victories."
Eugene M. Jerome (Williams Class of 1867) in The Williams alumni review, Apr. 1910.
*Eugene's cousin was Jennie Jerome who would became Lady Randolph Spencer Churchill, mother of Winston Churchill.
Williams uses PMS 267 for print, and #330066 for the web. Technically, Williams has only one college color, but it is often paired with a gold or yellow to differentiate Williams publications and uniforms from those with Amherst's colors of purple and white.
Purple Cow Mascot
"I've never seen a purple cow
Illustration by Durr Freedley, Williams Class of 1910, for the student humor publication The Purple Cow.
I never hope to see one
But I can tell you anyhow
I'd rather see than be one."
-- Gelett Burgess, 1895
The "Royal (hued) beast" that has evolved into the Williams College mascot has no known genealogy! Unsubstantiated rural legend has it that she* is descended from those bovines that grace the earliest prints of the college campus. It is also conjectured that she became part of the college community due to the popularity of a student publication that used the college color along with the hooved creature.
In 1907, the Purple Cow humor magazine went to press for the first time with a plethora of student authored pieces and clever cow graphics. The name for the campus publication was the winner among many suggested. The editorial staff, of course, gave credit for its whimsical title to Frank G. Burgess and his jingle was included on the cover of the first issue.
The monthly magazine continued until 1942 and was revived for a short time during 1946-1950 and 1952-1962. By that time it seems that the purple cow and the Ephs had become "family." The House of Walsh, a Spring Street store, advertised "droll" ceramic purple calf and bulls for sale in 1938.
Though we lack hard facts of the mascot's origins and any published official mascot designation, there is no denying that the purple genus of "bos" now holds a firm place in the lore and legend of Williams.
*Our now ubiquitous bovine mascot was named in a WMS radio station contest in October 1952. "Ephelia" was first submitted by Theodore W. "Dorie" Friend, Class of 1953, who garnered over $220 in prizes donated by area merchants.
By Linda Hall, Archives
Mountain Day
The first known allusion to Mountain Day is made by Williams president Edward Dorr Griffin in his notebook on college business. Under 'Holidays' he writes: "About the 24th of June a day to go to the mountain. If not then about the 14th of July. Prayers at night."
Edward Dorr Griffin. Williams College directory containing the code of common law 1827. (Williamstown, 1827)
On May 12, 1830 a group of students directed by college President Edward Dorr Griffin, improved and further cut a trail from the end of the Hopper Road to the summit. Today this route is the Hopper Trail, on which a traditional climb up Greylock by Williams students continues each fall during "Mountain Day."
From a Wikipedia entry on Mount Greylock
Today Mountain Day occurs on one of three Fridays in October, when it is declared by the President and announced with the ringing of the Chapel bells. It is considered a 'free day' in which students may or may not elect to commune with nature (prayers also are optional). Dining Services provides a meal on Mt. Greylock for all intrepid enough to make the climb (or take the bus).
"The Mountains" Alma Mater
The alma mater song "The Mountains," thought to be the first composed by an undergraduate, was written by Washington Gladden, Williams class of 1859. In his memoirs, he wrote:
I had been wishing that I might write a song which could be sung at some of our exhibitions; and one winter morning, walking down Bee Hill, the lilt of the chorus of "The Mountains" came to me. I had a little music-paper in my room in the village, and on my arrival I wrote down the notes. Then I cast about for words to fit them, and the refrain 'The Mountains, the Mountains!' suggested itself. I wrote the melody of the stanza next and fitted the verses to it. . . . That it would . . . become the accepted College Song, I could not, of course, have imagined.
The Mountains
O, proudly rise the monarchs of our mountain land,
With their kingly forest robes, to the sky,
Where Alma Mater dwelleth with the chosen band,
And the peaceful river floweth gently by.
CHORUS
The mountains! the mountains! we greet them with a song,
Whose echoes rebounding their woodland heights along,
Shall mingle with anthems that winds and fountains sing.
'til hill and valley gaily, gaily ring.
Beneath their peaceful shadows may old Williams stand,
'til suns and mountains nevermore shall be,
The glory and the honor of our mountain land,
And the dwelling of the gallant and the free.
download the sheet music (PDF)
Ivy Planting
A member of the graduating class plants ivy next to a wall or building as part of the Ivy Exercises held the day before Commencement. Although a precise date when the tradition began is not known, the college archives mention ivy planting as well as an ivy song and oration as early as 1862. The ivy appears to symbolize eternal friendship as in the following "ivy song," circa 1885:
". . . Eternal friendship's symbol thou,
Frail tiny plant we leave thee now;
But, token of enduring love
When thou hast reached thy niche above,
With clustering tendril spreading wide.
Entwine our heart on ev'ry side,
Whenever scattered through the land
Unite our disunited band,
That through thee, Ivy, we may be
One class to all Eternity."
Watch Dropping
At each Commencement, a watch is dropped from the 80-foot spire of the college chapel. If the watch breaks, tradition now holds that the class will be lucky.
The tradition began in 1916, although the results that year were different. A clipping from the Springfield Republican dated June 21 of that year said: "one of the most interesting occurrences of the afternoon took place on the spur of the moment from the top of the chapel tower immediately after the singing of 'The Mountains.' Members of the class had been remarking about the very great height of the tower and wondering what the effect would be upon the body of a person leaping off, when suddenly someone suggested that a piece of mechanism that is usually considered unbreakable be tossed down -- an Ingersoll watch. A collection was taken up by the class at once and one of the 'dollar brand' was bought. . . With great solemnity, the article was tossed off. Upon rushing down to the foot of the tower, the watch was found, imbedded in the earth, somewhat battered and beaten, the case very much scratched, but the works still ticking valiantly away and the time registered 3.43 correct to the minute."
Class Banners
Class banners represent a newer tradition, within the last decade. A banner, designed by members of each class and assembled by Penny Brewer '76, is sponsored by the Alumni Office. Each class displays its banner at subsequent alumni reunion gatherings.
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