In the early 1900s, freshmen at the University of Michigan could be spotted around campus by their distinctive gray caps, which they wore every day as mandated by the “Frosh Bible”.2 Freshman cap wearing was strictly enforced by upperclassmen. Being initiated into student life and learning the Michigan traditions was essential to surviving life in Ann Arbor. Some traditions, such as class games, the use of class canes, songs and hat styles enforced class-denoted hierarchies within the student body.

From the late 1860s the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes have used different hat styles to distinguish themselves by college, department or class year from the rest of the student body. Oxford hats, fez caps, mortarboards, derbies, plugs, and eventually pots were worn with pride, and sometimes shame, by students. By 1905, it was part of Michigan tradition for the freshmen to wear their gray caps, also called “pots,” all year long. The caps would show their class year and a different-colored button indicating school or department. While some argued that the use of class hats increased class spirit, others perceived it as a symbol of “serfdom.”3

At the end of the school year, having fulfilled their cap-wearing obligations, freshmen would burn their pots in a university-wide bonfire celebration called “Cap Night.” This event took place the first Saturday in June and was the night when the freshmen were “formally ushered into the dignity of sophomoredom.”4 Students, grouped by class year, would march across campus to Sleepy Hollow, where the rite of passage would take place. Students celebrated with speeches, a snake dance, singing, and finally by tossing their caps into the fire. The Cap Night festivities would continue in town as Ann Arbor theaters treated students to a free movie showing in celebration of the event.

The practice of burning the caps came to a halt temporarily from 1917 to 1919 as a result of World War I in Europe. Class caps were collected to send to refugees, particularly in Belgium. The wearing of caps was eventually abolished in 1934, although occasionally students would try to encourage once again the use of caps, this time in maize and blue,5 to promote school spirit.

The Bentley Historical Library holds a number of student scrapbooks where pieces of these caps can be found, along with photographs and descriptions of Cap Night. Before burning their caps, some freshmen would cut a piece as a memory of their student years at Michigan. The Michigan Daily and other university-wide publications found in the Bentley collections also provide detailed descriptions of the Cap Night event and other student life traditions.

 

-Melissa Hernandez Duran

Frosh Bible, 1924-25

Image 1 of 5

Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

 

 


1 Frosh Bible, 1924-1925. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. p.31.
2 Frosh Bible, 1924-1925. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
3 Freshmen Destroy Signs of Serfdom. The Michigan Daily, May 20, 1911. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
4 One Thousand Fresh Caps Cast Into Blaze. The Michigan Daily, June 3, 1906. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
5 Freshmen Get Sore–And Pots Ain’t No More. The Michigan Daily, October 6, 1942. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.