Ancient Gleeks

Glee redefined what it means to be different, a little off-center, or just plain weird, leaving a mammoth footprint in pop culture and the hearts of the underdog in us all. You may have wondered why then Vassar, in its culture of quirk, and with a thriving a cappella scene doesn’t have a glee-club. Well, it’s probably because we’ve been there and done that.

In the winter of 1882, then director of the School of Music, Professor Frederick Ritter organized VC’s first glee club. It was a resounding (no pun intended) success spawning numerous concerts with the glee clubs of MIT, Smith, Princeton, Harvard and other colleges, and performances  and concerts across the country.

Although we do know that the glee scene at VC still existed through the late 1950s, it is unclear what exactly became of it, or when exactly whatever it is happened. Perhaps we simply evolved from Glee to Pitch Perfect? In any case, we do know that while the glee scene lasted, it featured some pretty famous and controversial alumnae, including the eternally boss Edna St. Vincent Millay and Vassar’s first black graduate, Anita Hemmings.

Although our a capella scene is pretty great, it might be awesome to gleek out again though, no?

R-Owl-ing In the Deep

Vassar’s obsession with a cappella is perhaps a product of her unusual history with the art form.

In 1942, an outbreak of polio at Vassar brought life to crippling halt. Everything, save classes, was put on an uncompromising hold lest the plague should continue to spread, and life at Vassar became but a shell of itself. It was in this darkness that the Night Owls took flight.

One night, sixteen black-clad, brave young women stole out of their dorms to meet secretly in the basement of the library. Here, they sang late into the night, practicing to eventually serenade their ailing classmates from outside their windows. Now, some 70 years later, they continue to sing. And still in black.

However, according to research by past Musical Director, Becca Rose ‘11, the title of “oldest continuing female a cappella group in the US” may not be entirely accurate – evidence suggests that other groups also lay claim to this title…and there might not have been a  1942 polio outbreak at Vassar at all!

We will never know. But we do know that as a part of Vassar’s history, the Night Owls will continue to symbolize what it means to be a Vassar girl: a woman of grace, beauty and unmatched fierceness.