Yellow Jacket
Collection
Identifier: UP023
The Yellow Jacket was a student journal of the Georgia School of Technology that began publication with Volume 1, Number 1 on November 11, 1921 and ended with its final issue in June 1955. The journal generally included satirical and/or comical poetry, short stories, and articles, as well as cartoons and other illustrations. The covers were usually elaborate, brightly colored illustrations, much like the sheet music of the period. Individual issues were usually focused on a specific theme, such as football, homecoming, Christmas, July 4th, or graduation.
(four document cases and one half-size document case)
None.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
1.8 Linear Feet
The content of the Yellow Jacket remained similar throughout the years of its publication. The magazine generally included satirical and/or comical poetry, short stories, and articles, as well as cartoons and other illustrations. The covers were usually elaborate, brightly colored illustrations, much like the sheet music of the period. Individual issues were usually focused on a specific theme, such as football, homecoming, Christmas, July 4th, or graduation.
The Georgia Tech Archives' holdings of this journal are incomplete. For details on the issues in this collection, see the list of issues below. Please note that Volumes 24 through 49 were never issued; the journal ceases publication with Volume 58, Number 6.
The Yellow Jacket was a student journal of the Georgia School of Technology that began publication with Volume 1, Number 1 on November 11, 1921. Housed in the Georgia Tech Y.M.C.A. building on North Avenue, the journal was run by students, and it maintained a Board of Managers as well as art, editorial, and business staff. The magazine came to be published monthly, although this schedule varied from year to year. It was published from about October or November until May or June of every school year from November 1921 (Volume 1) to October 1943 (Volume 23), when the publication ceased for several years. The last issue of the first run contained an article entitled "Here Lies the Yellow Jacket," which provided at least a partial explanation for the journal's demise. By 1943, the journal had become a member of the Associated College Comics of the East.
The Yellow Jacket was reinstated after World War II, beginning publication with Volume 50 in December 1946. Apparently the magazine had come under some criticism prior to 1943, as the editorial in December 1946 indicates that some members of the faculty did not believe the journal to be in good taste. The journal was therefore re-established on a trial basis for only a year. An article in Volume 50, Number 2 declares that the journal was celebrating its 50th anniversary, and it associates the Yellow Jacket with the earlier journal, The Yellow Jacket (see UA392). This article incorrectly states that the earlier journal was founded in 1897, not 1894.
The final edition of the Yellow Jacket was Volume 58, Number 6 (June 1955). The 31 May 1955 issue of the Technique states that the Student Activities Committee of the Faculty Senate met on 25 May to determine the fate of the Yellow Jacket. The result of this meeting was "a unanimous recommendation to the Senate that the Yellow Jacket be permanently banned, and that no other Georgia Tech publication ever bear that name." This was approved by the Faculty Senate on 31 May 1955. The Technique ran an obituary for the Yellow Jacket on the front page of the 3 June 1955 issue.
Volumes and issues are arranged in chronological order.
A print copy of this finding aid is available in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
These materials have been in the Archives for years and limited information about their immediate provenance is available (Accession #2009.051).
Selected issues from 1921 to 1950 are also available on microfilm.
(four document cases and one half-size document case)
Access to the print version of this journal is available through an onsite visit to the Georgia Tech Archives (call number: T171 .G46 Y42x).
Jody Lloyd Thompson and Christine de Catanzaro processed these papers in June 2010.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository