About the Royal Purple
Class books, the predecessors of the yearbook, first appeared at Kansas State Agricultural College in 1891.
The class books were given various names such as The Sledge, Sunrise, The Bell Clapper and The Banner.
In 1904, during serious discussions of the necessity of class books, the Bell Clapper committee fought to keep the tradition alive.
It wasn”t until 1909 that “Royal Purple” appeared on the cover of the college annual.
In 1915 the first Royal Purple Popularity Contest was conducted. This contest grew into traditions that would last until 1970 - the Royal Purple beauties, Royal Purple Ball and Royal Purple queen. Judges ranged from Cary Grant to Samuel Goldwyn.
One of the first attempts at using a “theme” was the 1925 Royal Purple when the staff used an Egyptian motif throughout.
Throughout it’’s history, the Royal Purple has been a trend-setter.
In the 1937 book, the opening section told the highlights of the year in chronological order.
Other innovations were “tilted” pictures, numerous “bleed” pages, new headlines, and a prevalence of action photographs.
A “tip-on”- an applied color picture to the cover -was first used on the 1938 Royal Purple.
An embossed design on the division page, a trend of the 1980s, first was used on the 1939 Royal Purple.
The 1941 Royal Purple staff produced the first full-color lithograph cover in the nation.
The 1994 Royal Purple used the very first UV lamination, a technique that has since become very popular.
In 1997 the Royal Purple added a CD-Rom to its coverage and changed with the technology and in 2003 changed from CD-Roms to a DVD supplement.
1966 was the first year that the Royal Purple was not covered by the student activity fee. Students paid $3 for the Royal Purple and $1 for the directory.
In 1967 the book was expanded to 672 pages with 94 color pages.
Sales that year set records: 7,530 books were sold and class picture sales totaled 6,983.
The largest book in Royal Purple history (704 pages) was published in 1970.
In 1984, the Royal Purple celebrated its 75th anniversary.
The value of yearbooks was best summed up by George T. Hart, 1936 Royal Purple editor: “The yearbook is like a bottle of rare wine, the older it becomes, the more value it has, until it becomes cherished beyond monetary valuation.”
Tony Crawford, university archivist said the Royal Purple is one of the most used resources in the university’’s archives.
The Royal Purple holds more All-American ratings than any college yearbook in the nation.
The 1990 book was the only college yearbook in the nation to receive a Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic\r\nPress Association, a Pacemaker from the Associated Collegiate Press Association and the Overall Excellence Award from the Society for Collegiate Journalists.
The 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004 volumes received the Gold Crown, Pacemaker and All-Kansas rating.
The 2005 book also received the ACP’’s Pacemaker award.
The 2006 book is a Silver Crown winner and is a finalist for the Pacemaker, which will be announced in October.
The 2000 CD-ROM was given a Pacemaker by ACP (was a finalist in 1999).
The 2007 DVD was the first double-sided DVD in collegiate media.
At the 2001 College Media Advisers spring convention, adviser Linda Puntney was inducted into the CMA Adviser Hall of Fame, celebrating two decades of award-winning media students and service to collegiate yearbooks.
Compiled by Connie and John Fulkerson