For the Bicentennial, we explored the College’s extensive archives for beautiful, interesting and fun designs. We hope you enjoy these reimagined items and the Amherst history that inspired them. Items are for sale at Swchemm’s Cafe.
Orra White Hitchcock (1796–1863) was one of the first women in America to work as a botanical and scientific illustrator. She often collaborated with her husband and Amherst College’s third president, Edward Hitchcock, to create scientific illustrations for class lectures. One of her large-scale illustrations is of Elephas primigenius—a woolly mammoth. Here, Orra White Hitchcock’s work is reimagined for Amherst’s Bicentennial, along with a Latin translation of the College’s new rallying cry, “Tusks Up!”
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Learn more about Orra White Hitchcock on our website:
The sunburst design is taken from the earliest Amherst College seal, used from 1825 to 1885. This is the only version of the seal that has a face within the sunburst. However, in all other versions, the sunburst remains. It is a visual design that appears time and again in the College’s archives.
The Sunburst T-Shirt
The Original College Seal
Johnson Chapel is one of the College’s earliest buildings and the location of many of its most cherished ceremonies, performances and lectures. This item is inspired by the hand-drawn letters on Johnson Chapel’s green doors.
The College Dial
The College Dial was named after The Dial, a journal of Transcendentalist thought that ran from 1840 to 1844 and featured contributions from Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller. Only two issues of The College Dial were ever published, both in 1847.
The College Cucumber
The College Cucumber was a humor and satire paper from the late 1840s poking fun at campus life. It existed only for a single issue. Pieces were submitted anonymously or under aliases.
The Ichnolite
Amherst College has long been famous for its world-class collection of ichnolites (fossil footprints). The Ichnolite ran from 1857 to 1861, then changed its name to simply The Amherst College Magazine.
The Amherst Muck-Rake
Just two issues of The Amherst Muck-Rake, a humor magazine, were published in 1908; it was revived as a web-only publication in 2012.
The Amherst Student
Before The Amherst Student first appeared in 1868, most student publications would last only a few years before disappearing. This newspaper is the longest-running student publication in the College’s history, with just a brief hiatus during World War II.
In 1917, 24 Amherst students enlisted in the U.S. Army and signed up to drive ambulances for the French army. The recruits came from all four classes and together formed an ambulance corps known as the Black Cats, though their official name was the Section Sanitaire Unit 539. They drove Model T ambulances, each emblazoned with the Black Cat logo—an angry cat with arched back and upright tail, black against a white background—and throughout the war, they transported wounded soldiers and civilians to medical stations and hospitals.
Commemorate 18 months of mauve! In 1866, Amherst students voted mauve and white to be the College’s official colors. In 1868, they voted to change the school colors to purple and white.
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Amherst has a rich literary tradition as “the writing college.” These tote bags represent a small selection of the cover designs of campus publications over the College’s 200-year history.
There have been many versions of the Amherst A throughout the College’s long history. Before modern printing and mass garment production, clothing was handmade and therefore each Amherst A was unique. Many different A styles are represented in the College’s archives ranging from a simple A to highly intricate and stylized versions.
While the College has one official A today, the Bicentennial provided an opportunity to look back through our archives for earlier versions.