Collective Memory

On campus, the buildings where the small details of collegiate life happen—where roommates first meet, lifelong friendships form and conversations take place over meals and countless cups of coffee—often matter as much as calculus or English. These are the places where memories are built. Branscomb and McTyeire were the heart and soul of many fond campus experiences, some of them life-changing. Read More

The cast of a plesiosaur, a large marine reptile that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, that was once a centerpiece of Vanderbilt’s natural history museum from the 1870s has been unearthed in the basement of Branscomb Quad. Read More

In January 2020, Bernard Nomberg, BA'90, launched the 'Conversations with Commodores' podcast, along with a Facebook group specifically for Vanderbilt football alumni and others close to the program—coaches, trainers, cheerleaders, etc. Today, the community has grown to around 500 members. For all who played, the stories that emerge on the podcast are their shared history. Read More

Now in their 51st year on campus, 13 courageous African American students came together during the fall of 1972 to charter the first Black sorority at Vanderbilt University and what was then called George Peabody College for Teachers. Read More

Before Edwin Keeble, BA 1924, cemented his legacy as one of Nashville’s foremost architects, he found himself at a crossroads: Stay within the comfortable confines of the city he’d grown up in or venture to other parts of the globe and widen his worldview. His decision ultimately would have far-reaching consequences—not just for his career and its impact on Nashville, but for something perhaps even more profound in the eyes of every Commodore basketball fan: the curious origins of Memorial Magic. Read More

Recently revived with NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning as host, College Bowl originally aired from 1959 to 1970, pitting teams of college students against each other every Sunday afternoon on NBC. In a bid to win five weeks in a row and thereby be declared a “retired undefeated champion,” teams answered rapid-fire questions on a mix of topics, from cold, hard facts to pop culture trivia. Read More

As Vandy United’s $300 million athletics investment campaign upgrades Vanderbilt Stadium and enhances the fan experience, the goal is the same as it was a century ago. From concerts to commencements to presidential speeches and to football games that still define autumn, the stadium remains a place for the Vanderbilt community to come together and celebrate. Read More

Last fall, five Buchanan Fellows at the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries began a project to research Vanderbilt University’s first decade, from 1875 to 1885, and curate an online exhibit about what they discovered. In the process, the fellows learned how to find supporting materials, interpret historical objects, examine historically significant documents from Special Collections, and place all of them in the context of the university’s—and the nation’s—history. Read More

It started as a Yorkshireman’s attempt to bring something of home to Nashville. More than 50 years later, the Vanderbilt University Rugby Football Club has roots of its own. Read More

Under Jack Elder, EdS’73, the Tennessee Special Olympics program became recognized as one of the strongest and best managed. For athletes then and now, after five decades, Special Olympics is a chance to prove what they can do when given the opportunity. Read More

Just as KFC superseded its original moniker, the San Antonio Taco Company south of campus has, for 35 years, been elevated to an acronym for Texas-style fajitas and buckets of beer. Read More

Looking across the long stretch of the Peabody mall with its historic buildings and the iconic dome of the Wyatt Center, one might think Peabody College was the only academic institution to have been built on this location. However, before Peabody, the land was home to one of the most prominent black universities in the South, Roger Williams University. Read More

After 53 years, Carmichael Towers, Vanderbilt’s monument to 1960s Brutalist design, are coming down, soon to be replaced by the next phase of the university’s residential colleges along West End Avenue. Read More

David Williams II was remembered as a courageous vice chancellor, outstanding athletics director, brilliant law professor, and devoted husband and father during a celebration of life service Feb. 15. Read More

Tthe Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018, is taking a look at its origins through an oral history project and a documentary exhibit. Read More

Although legal and copyright issues continue to hinder access, the Vanderbilt Television News Archive—a repository of television news recordings from the past 50 years—is a national archival treasure. Read More

Equitable Securities Corp., a municipal bonds dealer founded in Nashville during the Great Depression, helped launch what eventually became Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management. Read More

Peabody College’s Knapp Farm featured a dairy barn housing what was likely the first herd of purebred Holstein cows in the South. Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives. Sustainability has become a buzzword in recent years, used to describe everything from economics to transportation. But at its root, the… Read More

Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill, who died in late 2016, was the last direct link between Vanderbilt University and its founder. Read More

Few people in the university’s history have been as loyal to Vanderbilt as long and as selflessly as Stella Scott Vaughn. She grew up on campus and was one of Vanderbilt’s earliest woman graduates. She served as the university’s first female physical-education instructor and coach, working her first nine years without pay. She also took on the unofficial role as dean of women students. Read More