Primary Source: Examining Official Dress in Universities in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

While collecting data on doctoral academic dress in New Zealand universities which formed the basis of my Burgon Society Fellowship submission, I also became aware of how the academic dress of university officials changed over time. The biggest question, of course, was why change the dress—surely once robes have been purchased for the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor (excepting drastic changes in size), that is that? The ‘what’ was apparent—after all, it is listed in the university calendars. The ‘how’ and ‘why’ less so. The need to visit the various university archives and explore minutes and memoranda to determine the reason and mechanism for change became clear.