The current exhibition of King’s College Diplomas in RBML’s Chang Octagon features reproductions of diplomas awarded by what we now know as Columbia from 1763 to 1773.  King’s College’s first President Samuel Johnson did not award diplomas at Commencement. His ceremonies included a more intimate ritual between the President, the graduate, and Johnson’s own Hebrew Psalter, which is also on display.

When and where was the first Commencement held?

The first King’s College graduation was held on June 21, 1758. There were only 8 students receiving AB degrees and 13 candidates for AMs, which at that time were honorary degrees. The ceremony was held at St. George’s Chapel on Beekman Street in New York City. The young King’s College was still holding classes at the vestry in Trinity Church while their first building was under construction. College Hall opened in 1760.

How was the ceremony different?

In addition to being much smaller than the current commencements, most of the ceremony was in Latin. We have in the University Archives Samuel Johnson’s Latin script from these early commencements. But President Johnson also addressed the graduating students directly in “An Exhortation to the Graduates,” which at least in 1762, was delivered entirely in English. 

What was graduation like for the students?

The most personal moment came when President Johnson addressed each candidate and conferred the degree. One by one, the candidates solemnly placed their hand on a small book of Psalms, or Psalter, in the President’s hand. Clasping the candidate’s hand, the President said “Ego ex autoritate hujus Academiae, Regio Diplomate constitutae, admitto Te, ad Baccalaureatus in Artibus Gradum.” (I, by the authority of this Academy, established by a royal charter, admit you to the degree of Bachelor of Arts.)

What happened to Samuel Johnson’s Psalter?

The Psalter seems to have remained in the Johnson family until 1852, when Edwards Johnson, the great-grandson of President Samuel Johnson, presented it to Right Reverend John Williams, Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut. Little is known about what happened to the Psalter after William’s death in 1899, but in 1944, the Psalter was rediscovered in a used bookstore in Hartford, CT. Mrs. Katherine Prentis Murphy purchased the volume and she gave it to her brother Edmund Astley Prentis, School of Mines Class of 1906. Prentis donated this historical treasure to Columbia in 1953. 

The Psalter, which is entirely in Hebrew, was printed in Cambridge, England, in 1685. In the back of the book, Johnson entered his name and the date of purchase, 1717. Johnson also inscribed on the back fly-leaf of the Psalter: “Samuelis Johnson liber quo in Gradibus Academicis conferendis, uti solet. An. Dom. 1758.” (Samuel Johnson’s book which is used in conferring academic degrees. Year of our Lord, 1758.)

What about the diplomas?

In the early days of King’s College, there were no diplomas awarded at Commencement. Samuel Veplanck, who was part of the very first ceremony in June 1758, asked for and received a diploma in March 1759. The tradition of handing out diplomas only started with President Johnson’s successor, Myles Cooper, in 1763.