October 11, 1868

Ellen Swallow ’1870, wrote to her mother:

“I send you a bit of our college colors, rose and silver gray. They have not had any before. These shades were manufactured expressly for us. One and one‑half yards each we have to wear in some form on public occasions.”

The colors signified the dawn of women’s education, “the rose of sunlight breaking through the gray of women’s intellectual life.”

Georgia Kendrick, “The Early Days of Vassar, Series I,” The Vassar Miscellany, January 1, 1899