Article 9: Regalia Remembered: Exploring the History and Symbolic Significance of Higher Education Academic Costume

In 1910, The British Medical Journal found space in its print publication amidst articles on cancer research and medical officer policy to present an abbreviated history and argument for the symbolic importance of academic regalia. Evidently, at the turn of the twentieth century, there was some concern regarding the lack of understanding of academic regalia in higher education worldwide. As stated in the journal: “Every one [sic] is aware that the term ‘academic costume’ implies a kind of uniform worn on official occasions by members of certain learned bodies, including all universities, and most people are acquainted more or less accurately with the official costume of the owners of a particular status at some particular institution. But there can be few persons who, finding themselves in the midst of a heterogeneous assembly of academically attired individuals, would be prepared to designate the regiment and rank, so to speak, represented by each of the costumes to be seen” (“Academic Costumes” 1910).