An example of how the hats were chosen is found in a front page Exponent article entitled "Select Class Hats," from September 17, 1908.
The hat chosen as the official emblem of the 1910 class for the ensuing year was one of about 20 samples exhibited by various manufacturers and dealers. It is steel gray in color with a high band of blue and the edge of the brim is bound with a shade of ribbon similar to the band. Several of the samples bore the class numbers on the band, but it was decided to leave these off, thus making the hat one which can be worn anywhere without the rah! rah! atmosphere usually accompanying class headgear.
During the class meeting in September of 1912 the class selected a Stetson telescope of silver grey with a wide purple band. A Lafayette hat dealer by the name of McCarthy was asked to supply three hundred of the hats. The juniors also chose a class pipe; it being a briar pipe with a silver P on the front with 1914 on either side of the P. Exactly when this custom died is unclear. Junior class meeting either stopped entirely or were not covered in the Exponent over time and photos of the entire class stopped being printed in the Debris. The last image of a group of juniors, in the Debris, where most have the same hat is in the 1929 volume and the last time the hats are mentioned in the 1933 volume.
Class of 1918
http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/u?/debris,28505
