Mississippi State University

Mississippi

1878

Formerly “Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College”

official hood lining pattern
maroon
white
A photograph from a c.1905 Cotrell & Leonard catalogue of a doctoral hood with a lining that used a heraldic pattern of this type.
An invitation to the 1918 commencement cermony at Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, in maroon with a white ribbon.

At the beginning of the first Mississippi A&M football season in November 1895, students voted to allow the captain of the team, W.M. Matthews, to select the colors of the team uniforms. Matthews immediately chose maroon and white. This combination proved to be a popular one, so maroon and white became the college’s colors.

Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): maroon/white (1897-1935)

To avoid duplicating the hood assigned to Lafayette College (maroon with a white chevron), the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC)  assigned Mississippi A&M College a white hood lining with a maroon chevron, probably in the late 1890s. This description first appeared in a 1927 Intercollegiate Bureau list, and did not change in subsequent lists from the IBAC.