Streaming Media
Title
State Teachers College at Bridgewater, Massachusetts Commencement, June 1935
Files
Date
6-1935
Description
Length: 02:24
Black & White, Silent
The Commencement Procession shows the graduating seniors walking towards Horace Mann Auditorium in the Administration Building (now known as Boyden Hall). The Ivy Exercises include the procession of the junior class out of the Administration Building and forming a perimeter around the quadrangle. The graduating seniors walk from Horace Mann Auditorium and form rows on the step of the Administration Building. The Senior Class President plants a vine of ivy along the foundation of a side of the Administration Building, then rejoins his class on the steps of the building. Unidentified speakers address the assembled. After the ceremony, the seniors walk in formation from the stairs and form an inner ring in the quadrangle. At the end, the seniors, juniors and assembled audience intermingle.
Recommended Citation
Bridgewater State Teachers College, "State Teachers College at Bridgewater, Massachusetts Commencement, June 1935" (1935). Multi-media Selections for the Archives. 11.
https://vc.bridgew.edu/media_sel/11
Comments
The tradition of the Ivy Exercises (march, oration, and planting) began in 1902. A version of the “Significance of the Ivy March” was included in the many of the college yearbooks in the mid-1930s:
“The trumpet calls represent the call to duty, especially for the Seniors. The oak boughs held by the underclassmen symbolize to the Seniors the everlasting protection of the College. The ivy, which is planted and also carried by each graduate, symbolizes the spirit of comradeship and good fellowship. The daisy chain carried by the Junior women represents a guard of honor for the Seniors. Finally, the "Alma Mater" sung by the Seniors at the conclusion of the March, signifies the continual renewal of their loyalty to Bridgewater.”
The tradition of the Ivy Exercises ended sometime in the late 1950s.
This excerpt is from a 50-minute 16mm compilation film that was made in the early 1950s. The compilation film consists of both color and black & white segments, most filmed without sound, dating from 1935 to 1950. The BSU Archives and Special Collections has not uncovered any documentation or additional information about the compilation film and who produced it.
Sometime in the mid-1980s a VHS video recording was made of the projected 16mm film in an attempt to archive it, and the original film reel was probably discarded. The VHS recording was transferred to a digital format in 2015.