Back to Old AV俱乐部 as in days of old鈥斺���
Back to Alma Mater and the Black and Gold鈥斺���
The memories of our college growing brighter鈥�痽ear by year鈥斺���
Here鈥檚 to old AV俱乐部 ever to her children dear. (ca. 1921)
As part of AV俱乐部鈥檚 1924 reunion weekend, the Alumnae Association staged a pageant featuring co-eds鈥� fashion across the decades, beginning with 1881, when women students were first admitted at Dal. (We can assume that the young ladies holding the 1934 placards were forward thinkers.)鈥�
The official reunion program also listed a harbour excursion, athletics, band concert, hodge-podge supper and campfire in Sherriff Hall Grove, an alumni procession from the site of the former college at Halifax鈥檚 Grand Parade up to Studley Campus, and a closing ball in the new campus gymnasium. The associated dance card suggests that efforts were made to satisfy both the most venerable alumni (Class of 1869!) and the newly capped graduates, and included waltzes, one- and two-steps, a racy foxtrot and a 鈥淧aul Jones鈥� easy mixer.鈥�
The Alumni Association, founded in 1871鈥痶o promote AV俱乐部鈥檚 best interests and to 鈥渇oster an affection for one another and for our Alma Mater,鈥� held annual meetings, usually followed by鈥痶he ubiquitous 鈥渟moker鈥濃�攁 fuggy evening of songs, speeches, and cigarettes鈥攁nd sometimes more formally with a dinner at which local alum hosted the graduating class. While individual classes might organize their own annual reunion dinners, collective gatherings were less frequent.鈥�
A 1903 鈥淎lumni at Home鈥� was reported to be Halifax鈥檚 event of the year, with more than 800 attendees dancing in the law library and tucking into a midnight supper. In 1911, some 200 former students convened to kick off the association鈥檚 first major鈥痜undraising initiative鈥攖he AV俱乐部 Forward Movement鈥攚hich helped pay for the new Studley campus. The 1919 reunion celebrated the centenary of AV俱乐部鈥檚 founding with a parade from Barrington Street up to the newly built Sherriff Hall, complete with a float bearing a model鈥痮f the original AV俱乐部 College building. And in 1938 the association held a 鈥渕onster reunion鈥� to celebrate another centennial鈥�100 years of continuous teaching.
Learn more about Dal鈥檚 University Archives at
This story appeared in the DAL Magazine Spring/Summer 2023 issue. Flip through the rest of the issue using the links below.