Graduated seniors might celebrate with a little of the bubbly June 13, but long ago at Dartmouth's first graduation, rum was the drink of choice, and graduates also munched on roasted ox -- all provided by the New Hampshire governor at the time, John Wentworth.
The first commencement took place in 1771 and no less than four graduates, one of whom was Eleazar Wheelock's son, received diplomas, which were unsigned due to the lack of trustees. All four were transfers from Yale and spent only a year in the New Hampshire wilderness.
About 60 people attended the small ceremony around the traditional Lone Pine and among those, legend tells of a Native American student who gave a commencement speech from a sturdy tree branch.
A similar tradition continued into the middle of the 19th century. A festive community mixed with a somber commencement created an odd feeling for the annual ceremony. An observer of the 1833 commencement noted "peddlers, gamblers, drunkards and shows" as undesirable elements on the Green.
In 1872, keynote speaker and famed writer Walt Whitman marked the changing feel of the ceremony, which was starting to align itself closer to "normal" commencements around the country. Whitman loved the aged feeling of Hanover, but didn't care too much for "Yankees."
The list of keynote speakers over the years, which Jeffrey Immelt will join, is an impressive gathering of VIPs from across the country. Throughout the decades, speakers have included Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton, and writers Robert Frost and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Leonard Bernstein, anchorman Walter Cronkite and even the beloved Mr. Rogers have delivered keynote addresses at past Commencements as well.
Eisenhower's presence in 1953 brought much pomp and circumstance to Dartmouth. An estimated 10,000 people attended to hear the president speak against McCarthyism.
"We have got to fight [Communism] with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people," Eisenhower said. "They [communists] are part of America, and even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them and their right to have them in places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned or it's not America."
The former president also received an honorary degree from the college at the commencement ceremony, which was also attended by secret service agents.
President Clinton's 1995 address drew so many people that the ceremony had to be relocated from the Green to the football field.
Earlier in the century, commencement was held in Webster Hall, where a smaller graduating class of males walked.
When Dartmouth students returned for the 178th graduation soon after World War II, a record 542 students from 12 different classes participated in the ceremony on June 8, 1947. This caused a shift of commencement location from Webster hall to the Bema.
At the time, The Dartmouth noted the difficult adjustment for students returning from Europe to find their school full of men six or seven years younger.
But the President of the College at the time, John Sloan Dickey, praised the range of graduates for completing their education at Dartmouth.
"For most of you ... this is your second going out from college into the world. It is surely a more joyful occasion than those earlier leave-takings from Hanover, but the task ahead is harder," Dickey said in his Commencement address.
Prior to the current speech schedule revolving around the College president and a renowned keynote speaker, Dartmouth students actually addressed their class individually.
Each graduate spoke for 10 minutes until 1863 when College president Nathan Lord stopped the tradition hoping to diminish individual competition and create a stronger community feel.
"Ambition and emulation are selfish principles," Lord said. He also ridded the College of other academic classifications such as class rankings, awards and honors during his tenure.
The "Valedictory of the College" was a tradition established in 1939 due to rising class sizes and a need to reduce speeches. The college selected one student with the highest grade point average to address their class. This policy was quite a change from Lord's egalitarian ceremonies.
The format of this ritualistic ceremony has remained relatively steady since 1953. Ceremonies before then often varied greatly in structure. For instance, until 1827 everyone spoke in Latin during commencement.
Although Dartmouth's past is diverse, when '04s spend their last moments as Dartmouth students on the Green Saturday, they will still participate in a rich tradition for the 234th year in a row.
