Items

• Sweater made for tiger statue
  In 1989, RIT erected a statue of its Bengal tiger mascot near the Kodak Quad of its Henrietta campus. This statue has been much adored by RIT students since its creation, who have expressed concern for the tiger by adorning him with handmade garments. For instance, a brown and orange sweater with “RIT” was placed on the statue around 2010 in the wintertime. The sweater, which was knitted by a graduate student named Stevie, disappeared on the evening of its debut, so a duplicate was made and placed on the statue again. It is unclear how long the second sweater remained on view. It was donated to the RIT archives in 2017.
• New Student Orientation Hat from 1970-1971 school year
  Similar to the 1968 new student orientation, incoming freshman for the 1970-1971 school year were given hats to wear during orientation week. These bucket hats are mostly orange, with a brown stripe on them and a brown brim, which could be folded up or down. A seal on the front of the hat states “Rochester Institute of Technology” and “70,” noting the year that the incoming freshman were arriving at RIT.
• OPUS staffer hat from 1968
  In 1968, RIT moved to the Henrietta campus and adopted a form of new student orientation known as “Operation Campus” or “OPUS.” As part of OPUS, both new students and staff wore felt hats with a feather that corresponded to the recently-adopted RIT colors of orange and brown. New students wore brown, and staff wore orange.
• RIT postcard with blue/grey lettering and tiger logo
  This postcard, which according to the front is “Compliments of Student Council,” comes from a unique time period in RIT history when the marketing of the institute combined old and new elements. Announcing the “Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers,” this postcard features an early version of the tiger mascot. However, the large “R.I.T.” letters on the front are grey and outlined in blue, indicating that the postcard dates from the early 1960s, the period after the tiger logo was adopted, but prior to the color change to brown and orange in 1964.
• Mary Anne Cross-Ehasz’s Sweatshirt
  This sweatshirt is light gray with the RIT logo and “Rochester Institute of Technology” on the front in blue. A souvenir of her freshman year, but an item that she kept over the years, it exhibits signs of wear and surely invokes memories of special times.
• RIT Tiger Pennant from the early 1960s
  In 1957, RIT elected to change its official mascot to the tigers, and its official colors to orange, white, and brown. However, this change didn’t become official until 1964, following the acquisition by RIT of a real tiger which was subsequently named Spirit. At an October 14, 1964 meeting, the policy committee officially changed the school colors to burnt umber, orange hue, and white, thereby creating an odd in-between period in the 1960’s for RIT spirit gear, where the tiger mascot might be featured as well as the school colors of grey and blue. This pennant is from these in-between years of the early 1960s, as evidenced by its dark blue background and tiger mascot.