May Day procession, University of Maryland Campus Mall, 1949

This is the May Day procession on the University of Maryland Campus in 1949. University of Maryland's annual May Day festivities were first established in 1923 by Adele Stamp, the Dean of Women, and lasted until 1961, the year after Stamp's retirement from the university. May Day included an elaborate pageant with costumes and dancing, a processional on the campus mall, and the crowning of the queen and her court. In addition, May Day served as the occasion when rising seniors were selected for Mortar Board, a women's honorary society