www.vanderbiltcommodore.com

The Commodore is the University’s official yearbook. It provides a history in pictures and copy of a particular year at Vanderbilt University, creating continuity for future generations of students.

ORDERING
The Commodore, the university's oldest commemorative student record, can be ordered online at www.vanderbiltcommodore.com. The yearbook is shipped in the fall following the academic year so it may include spring activities through graduation. The only way to receive a yearbook is to order one. Yearbooks are not distributed on campus. Typically, most students' yearbooks are ordered for them by their parents or family. Sales of the yearbook support Student Media at Vanderbilt.

PORTRAITS
All undergraduate students are encouraged to sit for a yearbook portrait. There is no cost to sit for a portrait, and the yearbook staff typically offers a portrait session in the fall with an additional session in the spring for students who were abroad or otherwise off campus in the fall. For details about portraits, please visit www.vanderbiltcommodore.com. Students who sit for their portraits, along with their families, will be invited to order professionally printed images from their portrait sittings. Sales of yearbook portrait prints support Student Media at Vanderbilt.

HISTORY
The yearbook was first published as the Comet in 1886-87 by members of the University’s fraternities. According to the Salutatory in the first volume, the yearbook received its name because of Astronomy Professor E.E. Barnard's national influence and the attention his discoveries brought to Vanderbilt.1 In 1909 the book’s name was changed to Commodore in response to a campus movement to unite the school under a common mascot and identity. About 1915 the Commodore evolved from a fraternity publication to university-wide yearbook.2 The yearbook came under control of VSC in 1967. In a higher education landscape that is seeing the rapid demise of traditional yearbooks, the Commodore remains stable and strong.

FREQUENCY
The Commodore is published once a year in the fall and mailed directly to the address of purchasers. The typical edition includes approximately 400 pages in a mix of black-and-white and color. All undergraduate students who sit for portaits have them included in the yearbook.

FACILITIES
The Commodore office is located in 135 Sarratt Student Center.

CONTACT INFORMATION
The Commodore Yearbook
Vanderbilt University
2301 Vanderbilt Place
VU Station B 351669
Nashville, TN 37235-1669

order@vanderbiltcommodore.com

1 Shea Sullivan, "100 Years in the Making". Commodore Vol. 100 (1986). p. 14.
2 Paul K. Conkin, Gone with the Ivy: A Biography of Vanderbilt University. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1985.

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