Heidelberg University
Ohio
1850
The original colors of Heidelberg University were peacock blue and old gold, but a Heidelberg theology professor named Rufus Miller wanted colors that would reflect the German and Dutch Reformed foundations of the university. In 1888 he suggested that Heidelberg adopt three colors that would symbolize this religious history: Dutch orange along with red and black from the German flag. The executive committee of the university agreed, and on 18 October 1893 they voted to make red, orange, and black the official colors of Heidelberg University. The red was typically bright, like scarlet, and the orange was a medium shade of that color.
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): old gold/blue (1895); orange/black/red (1896-1900); red/orange/yellow (1902-1904); black/orange/red (1906-1916); red/orange/black (1917-1918); black/orange/red (1923-1931); red/orange/black (1934-1935)
The Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) probably assigned Heidelberg University a hood lining in the late 1890s, but the first description of the university’s hood was not published until 1927, where it was described as being lined “bright red” with chevrons of “black, bright red, and orange”. In other words, the hood was lined with two chevrons, the upper being black and the lower being orange, with the bright red lining showing between them.
After World War Two this may have changed; hood lists compiled by Kevin Sheard in Academic Heraldry in America (1962) and Academic Dress and Insignia of the World (1970) described Heidelberg’s lining as red with a tri-chevron of black, orange, and black. This description was repeated in a 1972 IBAC list as well, but there is good reason to believe Sheard’s description was erroneous and the Bureau copied it into their records, thinking the college had made changes to its own hood design.
The original Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume design has been used here. By 1927 Heidelberg was one of only two schools the IBAC had assigned a hood lining with two chevrons of different colors, the other being the College of Mount St. Joseph in Iowa (today Clarke University).