Academic regalia of Harvard University James Michael Curley appeared in silk stockings, knee britches, a powdered wig, and a three-cornered hat with flowing plume. When University marshals objected to his costume, the story goes, Curley whipped out a copy of the Statutes of the Massachusetts Bay Colony which prescribed proper dress for the occasion and claimed that he was the only person at the ceremony properly dressed. Academic regalia of Harvard University As the oldest college in the United States, Harvard University has a long tradition of academic dress. Harvard gown facings bear crow's-feet emblems near the yoke, a symbol unique to Harvard, made from
Memorial Hall (Harvard University) Handsome Dan. The 1897 tower was destroyed by fire in 1956 and rebuilt, to its 18771897 appearance, in 1996. The John Harvard statue was originally (1884) installed before Memorial Hall's west façade, but in 1924 it was moved to its current location on the west side of University Hall. Memorial Hall being still, at the time, the college dining hall, a Harvard Lampoon cartoon showed "John Harvard" dismounting his plinth, chair in tow, and holding his nose because he "couldn't stand the smell of 'Mem' any longer". Memorial Hall (Harvard University) Memorial Hall, immediately north of Harvard Yard in Cambridge,