Ohio State University
Ohio
1870
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): red/gray (1895); scarlet/gray (1896-1935)
Ohio State University was a client of academic costume manufacturer Cotrell & Leonard in 1902, according to Concerning Caps, Gowns and Hoods: Bulletin 17 (1902). As Cotrell & Leonard was also the depository of the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC), the IBAC had no doubt assigned a hood lining pattern to Ohio State by 1902 at the latest. But no description of the university’s hood is given in that catalogue.
The first definitive and complete IBAC description of Ohio State’s hood lining was in 1918 where it was stated to be scarlet with a “silver gray” chevron. “Silver gray” was a term the IBAC used to describe a light shade of gray, which appeared silvery when tailored using satin fabric in the hood lining. This hood description for Ohio State University remained unchanged in all subsequent IBAC lists.
When the Ohio Agricultural & Mechanical College became Ohio State University in the spring of 1878, a committee of three students chose orange and black as the school colors for the “new” institution, but after it was discovered that Princeton had already chosen those colors, the committee revised their choice to scarlet and gray. A committee member later stated that the colors did not symbolize anything – the committee’s choice was primarily aesthetic. They chose scarlet and gray because they were an attractive combination of colors and because no other college or university had adopted those colors. Vintage tobacco cards, silks, pennants, and other Ohio State souvenirs depict a light shade of gray.
