Wilmington College
Ohio
1870
The students of Wilmington College voted to adopt Nile green and cream as their school colors on 21 June 1892. It wasn’t long before the cream evolved into white, which created a stronger visual contrast with the Nile green, but whether this change was ever made official is not known. “Nile green” is a light to medium shade of yellowish green that can vary between a jade green, apple green, lime green, avocado green, or light lime green. Webster’s Dictionary defines Nile green as “yellow-green in hue, of low saturation and high brilliance.” Vintage materials from Wilmington display varying shades of dark green, medium green, and medium or light shades of “Nile” green. Today, the college apparently uses three school colors: dark green, light green, and white.
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): Nile green/white (1917-1918); lisle [sic] green/white (1923-1931); green/white (1934-1935)
Academic hood lists published by the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) in 1927, 1948, and 1972 described Wilmington College as having a hood lined “deep Nile green” with a white chevron. A list compiled by Kevin Sheard in Academic Heraldry in America (1962) described the college’s hood lining as Kelly green with a white chevron. Both of these sources seem to be describing a bright green hue, so Wilmington may have sent the IBAC a color sample that was more vibrant and saturated than was typical of Nile green. To avoid duplicating the hood linings the IBAC assigned to Bethany College in West Virginia or the University of North Texas, here Wilmington College’s traditional Nile green shade has been used.