One of the best depictions of the mascots of the Ivy League schools is from this Princeton Cornell football program from 1978.

The school's mascots are: 

- John Harvard 

- The Yale Bulldog 

- The Princeton Tiger

- The Brown Bear

- The Penn Quaker or Ben Franklin (University of Pennsylvania)

- The Columbia Lion

- The Cornell Bear

- Dartmouth Big Green or Kelly the Keg perhaps nowadays

On a historic basis Dartmouth used to have an Indian mascot, although this was eliminated in 1974, vintage items and old football programs show the old mascot, such as this vintage postcard:

We recently discovered a fascinating article written by Lincoln Lewis about the history of the Ivy League mascots. The article was inside the Penn-Cornell football program from 1968. Portions of the article are excerpted below.

Yale Mascots - Handsome Dan and Pop Smith

Not only was Yale the first of the Ivy League schools to adopt a mascot, it claims to be the oldest mascot of any in the country. Handsome Dan first appeared in 1889 when a freshman, Andrews B. Graves, purchased Handsome Dan I from a blacksmith shop for $5. Their first mascot attended football games for a decade. His body is stuffed in a sealed case in the trophy room of Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium. Yale also had a different informal mascot named William "Pop" Smith. Pop Smith was an avid fan at Yale in the late 1800s and although not officially a mascot he was present at nearly every sporting event the school held.

Image of Pop Smith courtesy of the Yale University Library

The following is excerpted from the New York Sun, March 2, 1905. Note, they refer to Smith as James Smith, while the Yale library refers to him as William Smith. "James Smith, known for the last decade as Pop Smith, one of Yale's mascots, died to-day, aged 87 years. He was born in England and came to this country half a century ago. He was a short man with gray whiskers, and wore a little low derby hat. When Handsome Dan, the famous bulldog mascot of the Yale athletic department died ten years ago Pop Smith came to the front to take his place as mascot. From that time Pop had the field all to himself until about a year ago, when his health became poor and he was too feeble to go to the Yale field to attend the varsity games. Even in the days when Handsome Dan was trotted out, old Pop Smith would cross the field as a rival to Dan in the mascot business. Until too feeble to take the journeys he had been toted to Princeton and Cambridge as the Yale mascot. All the Yale professors knew him. In the early days he was a shoemaker and was patronized by Yale men. In this way he became acquainted with the Yale boys. 

Princeton's Mascot - The Tiger

Princeton's mascot is the product of an early identification with the colors orange and black. It is recorded that the Class of 1869 adopted orange as the class colors in honor of William of Orange, prince of the House of Nassau. At the Saratoga Regatta in 1874 Princeton crews wore orange and black; since that year, they have been the recognized colors of Princeton. In the 1876 football game against Yale, the Princeton team appeared for the first time in uniforms wearing black jerseys and tights with an orange "P" on the breast. Early association with the Tiger is evidenced in the origin of the Tiger Cheer. Later known as the 'Locomotive--Princeton" since its cadence resembles that of a steam locomotive, the cheer was reportedly picked up by the Princeton students from a Civil War regiment which passed through the town. The cheer was modified to: Rah, Rah, Rah,--Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, --Sis, Boom, Bah--Princeton. Claim is made to the adoption of the beast around 1882, since a campus humor magazine, The Tiger, was established that year. A newspaper account credited the men from Nassau Hall with fighting like tigers. In the 1920's some undergraduates brought a live tiger to Princeton and exhibited the real thing at football games. It was just after World War II when a student dressed in a rented costume first performed the now famous tumbling act.

Brown University Mascot - The Brown Bear

The birth date of the Brown Bear is January 20, 1904 when he was introduced to the university by no less a person United States Senator Theodore Francis Green, class of '87. Senator Green was a member of the building committee in charge of bringing into existence the recreation building know as the Brown Union. In 1923 Green wrote about his search for a mascot, "I wanted something alive, and although not human, such as we endow with humanlike qualities. First of all, I though our symbol should be a mammal and one of fair size, so as to be capable of portrayal in the graphic and plastic arts impressively and without absurd exaggeration." The central feature of the building was the trophy room and the central feature of the room was the great arch. Here, over the great arch, the central point of Brown student life, Senator Green placed the head of a real Brown Bear mounted on a shield."

Columbia University - The Lion

From Columbia's website, "At the April 4, 1910 meeting of the College Alumni Association, George Brokaw Compton CC’1909 introduced a resolution that the lion be adopted as the mascot of Columbia. The motion was passed." Columbia Magazine adds, "Compton suggested, should go straight to the top of the food chain. “We have the King’s Crown,” he is quoted as saying. “Let us have the lion.”

Cornell University - Touchdown The Bear

A black bear club was purchased for $25 circa 1915. Promptly named Touchdown, he was Cornell's first mascot, now know as Touchdown I. There has been a series of live bears to replace Touchdown I over the years , although a live bear has been replaced by a cheerleader dressed in bearskin.

Dartmouth College - The Indian and the ?

The Indian has been the symbol of Dartmouth College for almost 200 years, an identification derived from the early history of the college. In 1754, Eleazar Wheelock started Moor's Charity School for Indian youth, located in Lebanon, Connecticut. When Wheelock decided to expand his school into a college he looked for a site near the Indian and selected a spot in Hanover, New Hampshire. The early associations with Indian society naturally developed into a college athletic nickname for Dartmouth teams. The Indian was abolished as a mascot in 1969 and sort of has been replaced by the odd Keggy the Keg mascot.

John Harvard - The Pilgrim

John Harvard of Charlestown, a young Puritan minister, dies in the Fall of 1638, bequeathing his books and half his estate to the newly established college in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In gratitude, the General Court gave the college his name. John Harvard also serves in the role of mascot for the Crimson.

University of Pennsylvania - The Quaker

[This description was taken from a Penn-Cornell football program in 1968]. The only official mascot the University of Pennsylvania ever had was a cart pulled by a horse some years ago. Apparently revived by a school song, this mascot came back into vogue recently. An amusing anecdote is recalled involving the cart and horse of three years ago. Reportedly, at the moment a canon was fired for a score, the horse took off and ran right for the gate. The cheerleaders jumped off on the way to the gate. Sportswriters have failed to influence Penn in the choice of a mascot. Despite their repeated reference to the Penn team as Quakers, there has never been any option of the Quaker as a mascot. Occasionally, a character may be seen running around the field all dressed up. He is actually supposed to be Ben Franklin. Thus, the University of Pennsylvania does not sanction the use of Quakers but proudly recognizes its nickname, "Red and Blue."

The team has subsequently adopted the Quaker as the mascot as this description from the University's website makes clear, "Penn's sports teams are nicknamed the Quakers after the religion adopted by William Penn, who established Pennsylvania as a Quaker province. Today, we see the Quaker at Penn football and basketball games. In the 1920s, a proposal was made to change the Quaker mascot to the Penguin, but the students found the animal was too weak as a representative."

We feature a big selection of college football programs, which include schools mascots, as well as wooden Carter Hoffman and ANRI mascots.