University of New Mexico
New Mexico
1889
Black and gold were the original colors of the University of New Mexico in the early 1890s. A member of the art faculty, Harriet Jenness, suggested crimson and silver would better fit the spirit of the university. Crimson, she said, represented the glow of the setting sun on the Sandia mountains near campus, and silver represented the way the Rio Grande river appears to be a silver ribbon when seen from those mountains by students and faculty, who would often picnic there. To better capture the vibrant color of the sunset, crimson was changed to cherry, and in 1897 students and faculty voted to make cherry and silver the official colors of the University of New Mexico.
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): cherry/silver (1895-1935)
According to a 1927 list, the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) had assigned the University of New Mexico a hood lined silver gray with a cherry red chevron. This description remained unchanged until a 1969 IBAC list clarified the color of the chevron as being “bright red”. A 1972 IBAC list reverted to “cherry red”. “Silver gray” was how the Bureau described a light shade of gray satin fabric, which was used in the hood linings of institutions having a silver school color because the light gray satin fabric had the appearance of polished silver.