February 22, 2010

It’s birthday time for Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins turns 134 years old on Monday. Funny, it doesn’t look a day over 90.

To honor the founding of the university on Feb. 22, 1876, a Commemoration Day celebration will be held from noon to 2 p.m. in Homewood’s Levering Hall, which will be decked out in gold-and-sable bunting.

The Commemoration Day tradition was brought back four years ago to give people an appreciation for the university’s history and foster a sense of pride in how much it has grown in size and stature since its inception.

University administrators will be on hand in the Glass Pavilion to pass out birthday cake and refreshments, and all who attend are encouraged to wear Johns Hopkins paraphernalia.

To offer a glimpse into the university’s past, historical images from the photograph collection of the Ferdinand Hamburger Archives will be on display in both the Great Hall and the Glass Pavilion. The images will document various aspects of the university’s history, including portraits of the founder, the original downtown campus, the early Homewood campus and student activities from the 1800s and early 1900s.

The event will also feature a lecture titled “Johns Hopkins, the man and the legacy,” presented by Katrina McDonald, associate dean for multicultural affairs and a professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins. McDonald’s talk will be held at 1 p.m. in the Great Hall.

To add a touch of nostalgia, the Glass Pavilion speakers will blare out decades-old recordings of Johns Hopkins Glee Club songs.

Long-sleeved black T-shirts bearing an image of the Gilman Hall tower on the front pocket, the university name on the sleeve and the date on the back will be distributed to the first 600 students with valid ID.