University Colors
From GWUEncyc
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The colors of the George Washington University were chosen to match the uniform George Washington wore as he resigned his position as Commander In Chief of the Continental Army on December 23, 1783. The original colors of the Columbian University were blue and orange.
We were referred to as the "Buff and Blue" for many years (matching the colors of Washington's uniform), which were ordered to become the official colors by the Board of Trustees February 22, 1905. In 1938 President Marvin had an investigation done to ascertain the true colors of the original buff and blue colors of George Washington’s uniform, but as time had faded the colors, it was impossible to know what the original colors looked like. The company that had made the new flag for the University when it became George Washington University in 1904 was then contacted by the Comptroller of the university, Charles W. Holmes. It responded by sending samples of felt and ribbon that had been made as a result of a special request to the Smithsonian to lift samples from underneath Washington’s uniform, where the light had not penetrated. These samples had been kept on file with the company and had not been subjected to sunlight.
In 1956 John Russell Mason, University Librarian and Curator of Art, sent two buff and blue color samples that had been procured from The Color Association of the United States (New York) to the Munsell Color Company in Baltimore for analysis. The Color Association had produced a brochure of Colonial colors in 1932 for the bicentennial celebration of Washington’s birth based on Washington’s uniform at the Smithsonian.
The Munsell system is a scientific concept for describing and analyzing color values based on hue, value, and chroma.
The Munsell notations assigned to GW’s colors are: Buff – 2.5Y 7.75/4.8; Blue – 5.0PB 1.85/2.2
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Author or Source: RG0031; President’s papers; John Russell Mason papers/MS0242
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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