{"id":1322,"date":"2024-09-13T09:20:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T14:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/rbml\/?p=1322"},"modified":"2025-02-17T22:24:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T04:24:45","slug":"a-brief-history-of-school-songs-at-the-university-of-iowa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/rbml\/2024\/09\/13\/a-brief-history-of-school-songs-at-the-university-of-iowa\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief history of school songs at the University of Iowa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Songs of SUI have peculiar origins,” states The Daily Iowan<\/em> in a 1962 article. “Old Gold” (1905); “On Iowa” (1917); “The Iowa Fight Song” (1950); and “Roll Along, Iowa” (1954) and “Alma Mater Iowa” (1947\/1960) have all assumed distinct roles in campus life, and in the traditions of the Hawkeye Marching Band. This brief history, relying heavily on The Daily Iowan<\/em>, the Hawkeye Marching Band Records, and yearbooks of yesteryear, traces how each song was adopted into campus life and their role in Hawkeye Marching Band (HMB) performances and practices today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1905: “Old Gold” <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first two of Iowa’s traditional songs were procured through contests. In 1905, President MacLean launched a competition with a twenty dollar prize for “the best song for the University of Iowa.”1<\/a><\/sup> The song could be submitted as lyrics alone, or with words and music. The senate’s music board served as adjudicators and reviewing a total of seventeen entries. In April it was announced that senior John C. Parish’s “Old Gold” to the tune of “Fair Harvard” was the winner, with “Iowa,” “Alma Mater Iowa,” and “Hail to Iowa” receiving honorable mention. The committee reported that “All breathe a spirit of loyalty and enthusiasm for the university. In some it is a poetic thought, in others it is a rousing rhythm and music, and in others it is the freedom of the yell which conveys the appeal. We need all these forces, each in its place, and it is difficult to compare them.”2<\/a><\/sup> This perhaps explains why Iowa would spend half the twentieth century in search of school songs of various temperaments. “Shall this song live? No one can tell,” declared The Daily Iowan<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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University of Iowa Songs<\/em>, compiled by Staff and Circle, honorary senior society for women. New York : Hinds, Hayden, & Eldredge, 1921. University Archives, M1958.I3 U55 1921  <\/figcaption>
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