Infrequently Asked Questions

from the desk of the University Archivist

Q. When were ID cards introduced for students?

A. The November 11, 1948 issue of The Hoya reports that identification cards "would be issued to each resident student in the near future." The move appears to have been undertaken mainly to ensure that only resident students used the dining halls. Unlike today's ID-making process, individual student pictures were not taken. Instead, according to The Hoya, pictures of all resident students were taken in groups of 200. Individual shots were to be enlarged from these group shots and placed on the ID cards. Four inches long, two inches wide, and encased in sealed plastic, these cards were to bear both the student's signature and that of the University Treasurer.

Photo by Bob Young Jr., Georgetown University News Service, undated

Q. Is true that the cannons outside Healy were on the Ark and the Dove?

A. The two cannons, which shot a nine-pound cannon ball, were given to the University in 1888 and were placed in front of Healy in 1898. They were, indeed, on the two ships, the Ark and the Dove, which brought the original settlers to Maryland in 1634. According to Navy Department experts, they are Spanish-made and are believed to have been salvaged from the Spanish Armada, which was defeated on England's shores in 1588. During the 1928 presidential campaign of Alfred E. Smith, in which anti-Catholic prejudice played a major part, a notoriously anti-Catholic journal made reference to the cannons when it published a story accusing the Jesuits of Georgetown of having guns trained on the nation's capital.

Q. Who delivered our first commencement address?

A. Our first degrees, B.A.'s to brothers Charles and George Dinnies from New York, were awarded in 1817. A number of students spoke at the 1817 commencement, which was more a public demonstration of the students' oratorical ability than the kind of ceremony we would expect today. Charles was the salutatorian and, according to the program, the first to speak. George, the valedictorian, also spoke. The program lists no non-students as speaking. The same format was followed until 1831, when Daniel J. Desmond, a diplomat and a lawyer from Philadelphia, was invited to deliver the first annual Philodemic address. Mr. Desmond received a master's degree from the University in 1831, but it seems likely that this was an honorary degree, as he had been admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1818 and there is no record in the Archives to suggest that he actually attended classes here. If so, he would seem to be our first "external" commencement speaker.