The Rochester Institute of Technology Band Through the Years

Item set

Title: The Rochester Institute of Technology Band Through the Years
Description: Throughout the history of the Rochester Institute of Technology, one student organized club has maintained its legacy, through reincarnations spanning from the early days of the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute to modern day RIT. This organization has been resurrected time and time again through student leadership and interest in the important institution of a University band. Though an exact timeline of the various bands is difficult to pin point what has been easy to understand is the ever present need for such a student organization. From the first images found of an institutional band in the early 1930s, to the supposedly short lived reincarnation in the 40s, on to the widely requested RIT Tiger band, which spanned from 1968 to sometime in the 1990s to early 2000s, followed by the modern day RIT Pep Band. Each of these bands were created by passionate students, who saw a need that was not being met, and chose to do something about it.
Subject: The various reincarnations of the Rochester Institute of Technology institutional band.
Creator: Anna Vernacchio
Source: RIT Archives Collections
Publisher: RIT Museum Studies
Date: 2017
Contributor: Anna Vernacchio
Rights: RIT Archive Collections
Relation: http://library.rit.edu/findingaids/html/RITArc.0300.htmlhttps://annavernacchio.wordpress.com/
Format: Digital prints, clothing, Techmila, photograph
Language: English
Coverage: 1930-2010

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RIT marching band uniform
The RIT marching band was created in 1969 led by David Gueso, the first director of the band. During winter of the 1968-1969 academic year, the band began practicing in one of the conference rooms in the College Union on the new Henrietta campus. This bright orange wool beret, cadet style brown, white, and orange jacket, and brown pants would have worn by a member of the RIT marching band when they would perform at hockey and basketball games on campus.
RIT Tiger Band playing at the ground breaking for the Campus Life Center in Ingle Auditorium
This image of the RIT Tiger Band shows members of the band in uniform playing at the symbolic ground breaking for the Campus Life Center in Ingle Auditorium on November 2, 1989.
Techmila, 1984
The RIT Techmila was a student run yearbook for the Rochester Institute of Technology from 1945-1993. Following its first feature in the 1969 Techmila, the RIT Tiger Band was featured in an all color, full page spread in the 1984 yearbook.
Techmila, 1969
Established in May of 1968, the Tiger Band was first featured in the 1969 Techmila, with high expectations for the band noted in the paragraph describing the organization. Techmila was the student run yearbook for RIT from 1945-1993, superseding the Ramikin, which ran from 1914-1945, during the time the institute was the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute.
Ramikin, 1942
The Ramikin was the second iteration of the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute’s yearbook, originally titled the Mechanics Institute Book. The 1942 volume featured the first mention of the 1941 band. The 1941 RAMI Band was not the first inkling of a musical performance group at the institute but it marked the start of a line of institutional bands that would come and go in the following years.
Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute Band
This image of the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute band shows one of the earliest images found of an institutional band.