Why is Duke's yearbook called "The Chanticleer"?

 

In the Fall of 1911, members of the Trinity College Class of 1912 began a movement for a yearbook, or "annual" as such books were then called.  The history of the yearbook's founding can be traced in the student newspaper, The Chronicle. An article in the January 10, 1912 issue states that over 100 names for the book had been submitted by the students, and that the name would be selected on January 15. The paper did not (or could not) report on the procedure or results of the selection, but the first use of the name in The Chronicle was on February 21 of 1912. The first issue of the new yearbook came out in May of 1912. There are various theories as to why the name, The Chanticleer, was chosen:

• During the early twentieth century the rooster was used as a popular symbol meaning “an announcement to make” or “something to crow about.” Used as a verb, "to chanticleer" means to crow. The 1912 volume featured the rooster icons shwon above on the title page, endpapers, and throughout the illustrations of the yearbook.
• At the time, a popular actress, Maude Adams, was appearing "Chantecler," a play by Edmond Rostand.
• It has been suggested that a rooster was the mascot at Trinity College (the predecessor to Duke University) before the Blue Devil was adopted in 1922. Circumstantial evidence has been found to support this theory, including a 1919 photo of the College Band with a rooster depicted on the the band's drumhead. Also, in the early days of Trinity College in Durham, rosters and chickens were a common site on campus.
• It is taken from the Nun's Priest Tale in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. A presentation The Canterbury Pilgrims, an adaptation of the Tales, had been made at Trinity in 1911.

An article in the 1937 issue about the yearbook's history gives number 2 as the reason. With the exception of 1918 and 1919, every yearbook has been entitled The Chanticleer or just Chanticleer. Because so many students left for military service in 1918, yearbook was not published that year, but The Trinity Archive featured senior portraits and coverage of the year’s activities. The following year, the annual was entitled Victory in celebration of the end of the war and to commemorate the twenty-one Trinity College students who lost their lives in World War I.

Tom Harkins, Associate University Archivist