From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for May 31, 1911:

• “Never has so elaborate a scheme of decoration been attempted in Lawrence as is being planned to welcome the old grads who come back to attend the University commencement next week. The Great White Way will be converted into a triumphal arch adown whose color-wreathed columns returning ‘grads’ can ride the entire length of Massachusetts without getting from beneath the protecting shade of the ‘red and blue.’ From the moment commencement visitors leave the train at prettily decorated depots until they reach the gorgeously adorned campus they will be confused by a rioting mass of clever unique designs worked out in the blending red and blue of their alma mater.”
• “Tailoring a model dress before the spectators assembled in chapel tomorrow will be a feature of the Haskell commencement. Girls from the domestic science course will cut out the garment, fit it to a member of the class, and finish it to the last button hole and bit of braid, before the chapel exercises are over…. Every student, whether a boy or girl, is taught from his matriculation at the school to work with his hands. Every wagon used at the big federal school is put together by student wood-workers, every student can be fitted with shoes made in the leather shops, the harness is student made, the uniforms of the girls are made by domestic science scholars, horses are shod by students, all the printing is done in the school shop, and other departments teach the individuals to clothe, feed and house themselves.”