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College Class Pipes: Difference between revisions
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'''''“Arthur held a heavy buldog Yale class pipe in his hand, the pipe had a large 'Y' on the front, flanked on each side by numerals,,,,,1907”'''''<br> -- ''from Eugene O'Neill's play, Ah, Wilderness!'' | '''''“Arthur held a heavy buldog Yale class pipe in his hand, the pipe had a large 'Y' on the front, flanked on each side by numerals,,,,,1907”'''''<br> -- ''from Eugene O'Neill's play, Ah, Wilderness!'' | ||
[[File:GlokarClassPipes.jpg|thumb|500px|A grouping of Glokar branded [[BBB]] Class pipes: Two Cornells, a Princeton, and a University of Michigan, courtesy Brian Robertson collection]][[File:OwlShopClassPipes.jpg|thumb|500px|A grouping of Yale Class pipes from the [[Owl Shop]], courtesy Brian Robertson collection]]Around 1900 and slightly earlier, pipe smoking on college campuses, by faculty and students, seems to have been the tobacco implement of choice. From the 1890's until at least the early 1940's , the pipe was the "big man on campus". My research indicates that several Eastern colleges in the late 1800's had a single "class pipe" that was smoked during a school ceremony, marking the end of a school year. Emulating early western movie scenes, the pipe was passed among faculty and chosen ranking students, not unlike the native american "peace pipe" shown in those same films. Some colleges even had a pipe annually used in a ritual, not a "class pipe", but literally referred to as "the peace pipe". This "peace pipe” was smoked by the warring "tribes | [[File:GlokarClassPipes.jpg|thumb|500px|A grouping of Glokar branded [[BBB]] Class pipes: Two Cornells, a Princeton, and a University of Michigan, courtesy Brian Robertson collection]][[File:OwlShopClassPipes.jpg|thumb|500px|A grouping of Yale Class pipes from the [[Owl Shop]], courtesy Brian Robertson collection]]Around 1900 and slightly earlier, pipe smoking on college campuses, by faculty and students, seems to have been the tobacco implement of choice. From the 1890's until at least the early 1940's , the pipe was the "big man on campus". My research indicates that several Eastern colleges in the late 1800's had a single "class pipe" that was smoked during a school ceremony, marking the end of a school year. Emulating early western movie scenes, the pipe was passed among faculty and chosen ranking students, not unlike the native american "peace pipe" shown in those same films. Some colleges even had a pipe annually used in a ritual, not a "class pipe", but literally referred to as "the peace pipe". This "peace pipe” was smoked by the warring "tribes" of the senior and junior classes, symbolically ending their conflict as the seniors graduated. | ||
During a period when pipe smoking registered among the principle pastimes cultivated by students, a yet to be credited marketing genius came up with the idea to place a silver letter on the outward facing bowl of a pipe . Young men couldn't wait to have someone remark "oh, you must be a Yale man", or Princeton, or Harvard, etc.. Then around 1900, Mr. Lew L. Stoddard came up with an idea that would change the fad into a tradition. He put a student’s class year on the pipe, along with the school initial. Student class pride and rivalries were fierce, so this was an excellent way of displaying "class pride". In a 1908 ad, Mr. Stoddard claims to be "the originator of numerals on the class pipe". What is glaringly missing from this advertisement, however, is a claim to be the originator of the "class pipe" itself. At this time it is still unknown who put the first silver college initial on a pipe. However, a strong possibility of the originator of the class pipe may be a Mr. M. Durham, mentioned in a 1962 Owl Shop catalog showing a pipe with the Yale “Y” flanked by a “6” and a “2”, saying in the ad "Mr. Durham has been inlaying pipes for over 60 years". | During a period when pipe smoking registered among the principle pastimes cultivated by students, a yet to be credited marketing genius came up with the idea to place a silver letter on the outward facing bowl of a pipe . Young men couldn't wait to have someone remark "oh, you must be a Yale man", or Princeton, or Harvard, etc.. Then around 1900, Mr. Lew L. Stoddard came up with an idea that would change the fad into a tradition. He put a student’s class year on the pipe, along with the school initial. Student class pride and rivalries were fierce, so this was an excellent way of displaying "class pride". In a 1908 ad, Mr. Stoddard claims to be "the originator of numerals on the class pipe". What is glaringly missing from this advertisement, however, is a claim to be the originator of the "class pipe" itself. At this time it is still unknown who put the first silver college initial on a pipe. However, a strong possibility of the originator of the class pipe may be a Mr. M. Durham, mentioned in a 1962 Owl Shop catalog showing a pipe with the Yale “Y” flanked by a “6” and a “2”, saying in the ad "Mr. Durham has been inlaying pipes for over 60 years". | ||