The College Mace of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania was adopted at a special convocation ceremony there on Parents' Day, October 13, 1951. In the words of then President William W. Edel, the mace was to be "the symbol of the corporate authority of the College [to be] carried at the head of all academic processions on such formal and official occasions as commencements, matriculation services and regular and special convocations." At the dedication ceremony, Professor David I. Gleim of the chemistry department was chosen to be the first assistant marshal and mace bearer. The senior member of the faculty today bears the mace at official ceremonies.

Tradition-minded President Edel had conceived of this symbol during his travels to Europe, most especially through his close association with the officers of Carlisle, seat of the county of Cumberland in northern England. Adapted from the official mayoral mace of that city, the design incorporates long-established symbols of Dickinson College.

"The Liberty Song" was written in 1768 when John Dickinson set out to reflect on the political strife caused by the Townshend Acts of 1767, the latest in a series of British crown taxes levied on the Colonies. Dickinson wrote the words to fit the famous music of the anthem of the British Royal Navy, "Heart of Oak," composed in 1759 by Dr. William Boyce (1711-1779). Boyce's music was first performed in London in Harlequin's Invasion with the words that famed British actor David Garrick (1716-1779) penned to celebrate the three great victories of that year in the Seven Year's War. Dickinson freely adapted Garrick's lyrics, especially in the chorus, and Dickinson's friend, Arthur Lee, in Boston enroute to England for law studies, also contributed two stanzas.

When Dickinson wrote his lyrics, he undoubtedly knew well the patriotic association with the Navy of the words and the music of "Heart of Oak." Perhaps because of this, he also used the song to comment on his colleague John Hancock's ship, called Liberty, which had been seized by the authorities for smuggling. This seizure, along with anger over the acts, precipitated riots and led to the declaration of a suspension of English imports by Boston merchants in August, 1768 to begin December 31.

The Junior Oratory was a cherished event that for over a hundred years served as part of the Commencement week ceremonies at Dickinson. Earliest records indicate that this contest, first titled the "Junior Exhibition," occurred on July 20, 1836. The first four oratories were on American Indians, the topic "The destruction of our form of government is not to be inferred from the examples of former republics," Chivalry, and Poland. These four set the stage for future oratory topics that focused on domestic issues, the American government, the qualities of man, and foreign relations. The winner and the runner up received gold and silver medals, respectfully.

On the night of October 31, 1888, students of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, tore down the old picket fence along the north side of the Dickinson campus, as acting college president Dr. Charles Francis Himes had suggested that morning, and piled up the wood in order to make a bonfire. The students claimed that Carlisle Chief of Police Zimmerman witnessed their efforts, and told them to “go ahead”. Zimmerman would later deny this allegation. Around eleven o'clock, the students set the pile ablaze.

The Drinkinsonian is an annual satirical issue of The Dickinsonian, the regular campus newspaper. The first issue arrived on the Dickinson campus on November 3, 1932 claiming "We dare to print all." This was at the time of the Great Depression and prohibition, and The Drinkinsonian provided comic relief as it poked fun at campus life. Throughout its sporadic run, which continues to the present, The Drinkinsonian has taken on Dickinson's social, educational, political, and everyday issues in sometimes outrageous satire.

Along with poking fun at the campus, The Drinkinsonian also concocted stories which included everything from executions to fires. Early issues used the Carlisle community in some of its articles. The paper placed advertisements upside down and often placed random unrelated pictures throughout with whimsical captions. Most headlines concerned sports, fraternities, current events, and especially the presidents and other authority figures of the College. As the world watched to see who the Soviet Union would select to follow Joseph Stalin, the stridently anti-communist President William Wilcox Edel was announced as his successor in the 1953 edition complete with photograph of him boarding the plane for Moscow.

The present Drinkinsonian editions are usually produced to coincide with April Fools' Day.

The late nineteenth-century in America was marked by a desire to introduce Western influence, and, more importantly, Christian doctrines to the nations of the East. Not immune to this trend, numerous Dickinson College alumni used their ties to the College to help establish educational and religious institutions in China, most particularly the West China Union University in Chengtu in the Sechuan Province. Men such as John Goucher, class of 1868, and Raymond Brewer, class of 1916, were instrumental in the workings of the University as well as securing financial support for it through Dickinson and its alumni. Although thousands of students studied at the university, by the turn of the twentieth-century, anti-Western and anti-Christian sentiment had risen to an all-time high in China, resulting in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Despite such outbursts, the West China Union University continued to exist until 1926, when relations with the Chinese government as well as its people became extremely strained.

The S.S. Dickinson Victory was a "Victory" ship built by the California Ship Building Corporation for the United States Maritime Commission on Terminal Island, California, near Los Angeles. The keel was laid on December 15, 1944, and the ship was launched on February 9, 1945.

The "Victory" ship program was begun in 1944 as an improved extension of the "Liberty" ship program. Vessels in this new class were designed to be faster, safer, and convertible to civilian use following the war. The Dickinson Victory was a "VC2-S-AP2 Type" of close to 11,000 tons, 455' 3" long and with a beam of 62'. It was powered by 8,500 horsepower turbine engines generating a top speed of 17 knots and a cruising radius of 25,000 miles. The first of the type was completed in February, 1944 and called the United Victory. A total of 534 Victory ships were built between 1944 and 1946; the first 35 ships, including the United Victory, honored the Allied nations. The next 218 were named after cities, followed by 150 ships named for educational institutions; Dickinson Victory was the second in this latter series, following the Rutgers Victory. The remaining 131 Victory ships were given assorted names.

When Dick, the College Mascot, was found dead in Dr. Morgan's front garden on Monday, January 19, 1903, there was, in the words of Dickinsonian correspondent Whitfield J. Bell, writing thirty years later, "genuine sadness on the campus, for the old dog was as much a part of the College as the Mermaid on Old West." (Dickinsonian, Jan. 19, 1933)

For years, the ubiquitous Great Dane had posed with sports teams in official photographs, enlivened dormitory life, and attended every chapel, where, by ostentatious yawning, he often "commented" on proceedings, to the delight of the student body. His story "after death" is every bit as interesting (follow the link below). At the time Whitfield Bell was writing, Dick's stuffed remains were still preserved in the Bosler Library "in the extreme northwest alcove, wearing his collar...."

On September 17, 1965, a team of eight Dickinson students, coached by Professor Sanford J. Smoller and Harold R. Gillespie, traveled to New York to compete in the General Electric College Bowl, "the varsity sport of the mind," then broadcast on NBC television. They began a string of victories in five programs that saw the team retire undefeated, only the nineteenth team to do so of the 256 that had competed up to that point in the thirteen year history of the show. At the conclusion of the television program of October 24, 1965, in which they overwhelmed Adelphi University by a score of 285 to 170, the team was awarded a silver bowl and $10,500 in scholarships.

The first team members included the captain, George Williams, a senior English major from Chappaqua, New York; Norman Rothman, another senior and an history major from West Pittston, Pennsylvania; David Richman, senior English major from Philadelphia; and, from Carlisle, junior fine arts major Art Litoff. They were strongly supported by the second squad of Donald Richmond from Long Island, Elizabeth Wagner of Nanuet, New York, Reginald Templeton of Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and Mark Dischell from Margate, New Jersey.

By 1783, the trustees of the Carlisle Grammar School had begun to discuss the possibility of expanding the school into a classical academy. Learning of their plans, prominent Philadelphia physician Benjamin Rush endeavored, with the help of grammar school trustee John Montgomery, to advance the idea of a college, not a simple academy. Despite reservations held by some of the trustees, Rush's plan was accepted. Garnering support from such prominent men as John Dickinson and James Wilson, already himself a trustee of the grammar school, the trustees successfully petitioned the Pennsylvania State Assembly for the creation of their proposed "Dickinson College." The charter was granted on September 9, 1783.

The charter is entitled "An Act for the Establishment of a College at the Borough of Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, in the State of Pennsylvania," and it sets forth the guidelines by which the business of the college is to be conducted by the board. The Board of Trustees was to be comprised of forty men, nine of whom were required to be present to form a quorum. No one was permitted to be a member of the Board while as a student, professor, or president of the college. Information regarding impending meetings was to be distributed in sufficient time beforehand.