Hollins University
Virginia
1842
In Our College Colors (1949), Henry L. Snyder said that green and gold had been Hollins University’s school colors for so long that no one remembered when they were selected. The university used a dark shade of green it sometimes called “piper green”.
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): green/gold (1923-1935)
The Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) knew that the school colors of Hollins University were dark green and gold, so in 1927 and 1948 lists the IBAC recorded this information as a “generic” single chevron pattern (dark green with a gold chevron) that would have duplicated the hood lining of the University of Vermont. In the 1950s, however, Hollins must have applied for an official hood lining pattern, so to create a unique design for the university the Bureau used light green below the gold chevron while retaining dark green above it. In Academic Heraldry in America (1962) and Academic Dress and Insignia of the World (1970), Kevin Sheard described this pattern as “piper green” above “bright green” with a gold chevron in between. A 1972 list from the Intercollegiate Bureau said the hood was lined “dark green over light green” with a gold chevron.
Because the seal of Hollins University features an upward-pointing chevron, here the chevron in the university’s academic hood lining has likewise been inverted (or “reversed”).
