Class Ivy
As part of the annual Class Day celebration which began in 1855, Trinity seniors planted ivy on the College buildings. Ivy planting remained a tradition for decades and is thought to be the inspiration for the undergraduate yearbook, the Trinity Ivy, which first appeared in 1873.
Edward B. Hughes of New Haven, a freshman in the Class of 1855, brought the first ivy plantings to the campus about 1852, obtained from Trinity Church in New Haven. Before this, “there were no vines or climbers of any sort on the buildings.” 1) Hughes supposedly planted his ivy on the north and southwest corners of Seabury Hall. Soon, other students began to follow his example.
The planting of the class ivy was a very informal thing when first started, there being no speeches or remarks, but it was simply placed there by some members of the class as a memorial…When Class Day was started as we now have it, the planting of the class ivy became one of the pleasantest yet saddest events of the day. 2)
The first Class-identifiable ivy planting was in 1862, “situated on the south side of Seabury…marked by a neat '62 cut in the wall.” From there, subsequent classes planted their ivy, assisted by College staff, and carved their class years into the stone where their ivies were planted. An article in the June 1874 Trinity Tablet details the locations of all the plantings he could identify.
By 1872, the Class Ivies covered the walls of all three campus buildings. The final class to plant ivy on the old campus was in 1876, even though the buildings were slated for demolition.
Like some other traditions that originated from the “old college days” on College Hill, the planting of class ivy fell by the wayside during the 1880s-1890s. It was replaced with a tradition of planting a Class Elm in 1884. “The planting of the tree is not an innovation,” stated the Trinity Tablet, “but rather a continuation of one of Trinity's oldest and most hallowed customs, that of planting the ivy on Class Day.” At the 1884 Class Day ceremony, William Stanley Barrows, Class of 1884, spoke of the elm tree as a symbol “distinguished from the ivy,” and “the suggestion of allowing the pliant vine to grow up with the elm was voted down by the class, staid old bachelors that they were, on the ground that it symbolized too much. The class was resolved not to allow their natural freedom to be entangled by any such accessions.” 3) The elm tree was, Barrows said, symbolism aside, a great place under which the class could reunite in 25 years.
Sources
Trinity College in the Twentieth Century (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, pp. 19-20, 34.
The History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 109, 148, 184.
Trinity Tablet, 07/02/1884, p. 77.
Trinity Tablet, June 1874, pp. 81-83.