MAC - MSC - MSU
HISTORY OF THE CREST
Some Michigan State memorabilia can be dated by the school crest pictured. Most information is from Madison Kuhn's book "Michigan State The First Hundred Years".
MAC 1857-1925: "Good enough for the proudest and cheap enough for the poorest," said Joseph Williams, first president of Michigan Agricultural College which began teaching in 1857. The athletic teams were referred to as "Aggies" and a bear was sometimes used as a mascot. There was no official seal for the college, instead using the state board of agriculture crest or just the intertwined M.A.C.
|
|
|
|
|
|
MSC 1857 Crest 1926-1934: On May 13, 1925, the East Lansing school officially became Michigan State College. The present crest was designed by liberal arts student John O. Sunderlin in 1926. A contest to replace the nickname "Aggies" was held and the winning name was "Staters". George Alderton of the Lansing State Journal thought the name cumbersome in print and began describing the baseball team as "Spartans" a name that had been submitted from the contest by Perry J. Fremont.
 |
 |
Examples of the MSC "1857" Crest
MSC 1855 Crest 1934-1955: Michigan State has always prided itself as being the pioneer land grant college. Since 1926, the seal had always stated "Established 1857". In 1934, MSC received an inquiry from the University of Maryland asking why MSC was older when Maryland was established in 1856. MSC officials discovered that 1857 was the first year the school offered classes. However, most schools used the year of legal founding. The board quickly changed the seal to read "Established 1855".
 |
 |
 |
Examples of the MSC "1855" Crest
MSU 1955- In 1955, Michigan State celebrated its 100 year centennial and the state legislature approved the name change to the present Michigan State University
 |
 |
 |
 |
HISTORY OF ATHLETIC VENUES
| 1913 M.A.C. FIELD | 6,000 | ||
| 1924 M.A.C. FIELD | 14,000 |
|
 |
| 1930 DEMONSTRATION HALL COURT |
 |
 |
|
| 1935 MACKLIN FIELD | 26,000 |
 |
 |
| 1940 JENISON FIELDHOUSE | |||
| 1948 MACKLIN STADIUM | 51,745 |
 |
 |
| 1948 MSC Officially Voted Into Big 10 |
 |
||
| 1956 UNIVERSITY STADIUM | 60,845 |
 |
|
| 1957 SPARTAN STADIUM | 76,000 |
 |
|
| 1974 MUNN ICE ARENA |
 FIRST MSU GAME AT MUNN |
DEDICATION GAME |
|
| 1994 SPARTAN STADIUM | 72,027 |
 |
HISTORY OF YEARBOOKS
| 1887 Harrows - Published by the class of 1889, this is the first MAC yearbook. It was followed by the 1888 and 1889 Harrows. |
 |
| 1896 Heliostat - First book published since 1889. |
 |
| 1900 Wolverine - Published by the Junior class of 1901, they chose the name Wolverine adopting the nickname of the people of the state only a short time before the Michgian Daily first referred to the U-M's football team as "Wolverines". The yearbook appeared triennially until 1911. |
 |
| 1904 Gluck-Auf |
 |
| 1907 Jubilee Wolverine - 50th anniversary of MAC |
 |
| 1910 Wolverine - Published by the class of 1911. |
 |
| 1911 Wolverine - First annual yearbook. The Wolverine was published until 1974 when the yearbook changed to the current Red Cedar Log. |
 |
WARNING - IT'S NOT NORMAL! There are many yearbooks, programs and other memorabilia offered on eBay and elsewhere that is identified as Michigan State College, but when you read the fine print it is Michigan State Normal College. This is Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.
