On May 14, 2010, yours truly had the distinct honor of graduating from Vanderbilt University with my Masters in Public Health. I won’t go into the specific details of the ceremony, but if you’re interested, you can read the details on my personal/family blog here.
The ceremony was beautiful and the Chancellor even mentioned the Commodore’s gift to establish the university, noting that the $1 million dollar contribution in 1873 would be worth $3 billion dollars today. This would be the beginning of the Vanderbilt family’s philanthropic activities as we have come to know them today.
My commencement took place on one of the campus lawns:
Today, while doing research at the Tennessee State Library & Archives, I took photographs of some of the old Vanderbilt yearbooks. In contrast to my ceremony, here is a picture of commencement from 1909. Looks like the students marched on the lawn and the ceremonies were held inside. I wonder if it rained that day?
Now that I’ve graduated, here’s hoping for more Vanderbilt Genealogy posts!
Vanderbilt Family Genealogy 