Has anyone looked at this? Obviously, the song Spirit of Aggieland dates to about 1926.

Is that the first use of the term?

I scanned a few old yearbooks, up to and including the 1920 Longhorn, and I haven't spotted it.

Any Aggie historians want to educate me?

Second question, when did the term "Aggie" come into use?

I have found it in the 1925 Longhorn, referring to the 1924 football team

I've always heard that a vote was taken somewhere in the late 19th century. If a few more engineering students had made it to the polls, we'd have been the Enggies.

CanyonAg77 said:

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Second question, when did the term "Aggie" come into use?

I have found it in the 1925 Longhorn, referring to the 1924 football team

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the first reference to Aggies can be found In the Battalion on April 17, 1914, referring to the baseball team.

First reference of Aggieland is found in the September 23, 1920 Battalion in the article regarding Bibles football team

That's cool. Have you been digging into the history for a while? I assume the official name of the time was "Farmers". Though some of the old "Longhorns" refer to "the eleven" for football, "the nine" for baseball, etc.

Also notice on that page that the chaperones for the "prom" were Mrs. Moran and Mrs. Kyle

November 29, 1912 Battalion there is a story of how the undefeated Farmers of AMC were outscored by the Aggies of Kansas.

CanyonAg77 said:

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That's cool. Have you been digging into the history for a while? I assume the official name of the time was "Farmers". Though some of the old "Longhorns" refer to "the eleven" for football, "the nine" for baseball, etc.

Also notice on that page that the chaperones for the "prom" were Mrs. Moran and Mrs. Kyle

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Yes, once I discovered the Battalions and Yearbooks online I do lots of research for you old guys

The Spirit of Aggieland, 1926 Longhorn

ABATTBQ87 said:

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November 29, 1912 Battalion there is a story of how the undefeated Farmers of AMC were outscored by the Aggies of Kansas.

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Got to ask. What the hell is that picture supposed to be, other than horrifying?

"You old guys"

Said the guy who is 80% of his way to the Sul Ross reunion

It was probably pretty cool in 1912

ABATTBQ87 said:

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It was probably pretty cool in 1912

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The female figure on the left is labeled

Championship of South West

Is the figure in dark supposed to be in a football uniform and helmet? He (?) seems to be offering the girl a ring

CanyonAg77 said:

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ABATTBQ87 said:

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It was probably pretty cool in 1912

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The female figure on the left is labeled

Championship of South West

Is the figure in dark supposed to be in a football uniform and helmet? He (?) seems to be offering the girl a ring

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The guy represents the AMC team courting the woman/championship of the southwest.

This is before the formation of the SWC

Between the pants and the weird helmet or hair, hard to tell its a guy

BQ78 said:

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So the Aggies were dallying with Hope well before the SEC Shorts

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Exactly what I thought

aggiejim70 said:

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I've always heard that a vote was taken somewhere in the late 19th century. If a few more engineering students had made it to the polls, we'd have been the Enggies.

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Here's a fact from the Battalion Feb 4, 1921: A&M students favored the name "Wildcat"

Interesting article on the left about the "wireless phone" and on the upper right, a prof from U of Wisconsin, praising the Bolshevik Revolution.

did the students vote for that or is just a lobby by those who wrote for the Batt?

BQ_90 said:

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did the students vote for that or is just a lobby by those who wrote for the Batt?

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per the Battalion February 11, 1921 it seems as if the Yell Leaders, athletes, cadet officers and students in general were in favor of the name change

The T association votes down the new nickname "Wildcats" in favor of the traditional name and values of the Maroon and White!!

Battalion February 18, 1921

Shoulda been the Armadillos!

We can probably thank, at least partially, sportswriters for making the words "Aggie" and "Aggieland" standard for the land grant colleges.

Searching Newspapers.com, the first use of "Aggieland" that I find is the Columbia Missourian referring to Ames, Iowa as Aggieland in 1913. With a couple years, similarly, Kansas sportswriters were referring to Manhattan as Aggieland, and Oklahoma writers to Stillwater as Aggieland.

The Houston Post was using it for our Aggieland by 1917.

None of these citations necessarily prove where or when it was first coined, or by whom. But sports journalists were always the most aggressive in pushing nicknames and shorthands, so I suspect their pages played a role in standardizing the Aggie vocabulary. Especially since the schools may not have formally adopted those nicknames by the time the papers were using them commonly.