In the late 1800s at 乐播传媒, when Edmund Randall Angell sported a full goatee, and Thomas James Bollin wore friendly mutton chops, the percentage of clean-shaven American men .

What was in, in a big way, were beards and mustaches

It鈥檚 said that the 19th-century beard boom started in Europe. British soldiers fighting in the Crimean War of 1854鈥�56 were allowed to grow beards for the first time. Returning home, the .

By the early 1900s, facial hair, especially beards, was on the wane at 乐播传媒 and in the U.S. In the 1901 yearbook, only two men out of 30 had any facial hair, and those two sported only the tidiest of mustaches.

With the emergence of the germ theory and subsequent public health campaigns, beards were thought to be unhygienic. (Irony note: A germ, COVID-19, caused a beard boom among men during the pandemic.) And shaving got easier, thanks to the introduction of the Gillette Safety Razor.

In the early 1900s, the emphasis on being clean shaven had social implications, explains Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies Rebecca Herzig in . Public health rhetoric that emphasized hygiene, including shaving, was often tied to anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy that effectively demonized immigrants as unclean or unhealthy. 

But before all that went down, beards, mustaches, and sideburns were all the rage. Here are 11 portraits of the best of the mustachioed and bearded 乐播传媒ies.

Here鈥檚 Johnny’s Shenandoah

In the 1882 yearbook, legendary professor Jonathan 鈥淯ncle Johnny鈥� Stanton, wears a flowing Shenandoah-style beard.

A professor from 1863 to 1906, he taught Greek and Latin, served as librarian, and taught a popular class in ornithology. He鈥檚 credited with establishing the 乐播传媒 debate tradition by encouraging students to form literary societies, from which intercollegiate debating sprang.

Dr. Morton

Walter Alfred Morton, Class of 1886, sports a subtle handlebar mustache. Virginia-born, he earned a medical degree from Dartmouth and was a physician in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sadly, he died at age 38 of heart trouble. The Standard Union newspaper of Brooklyn reported on his funeral. 鈥淗aving to rely solely upon himself for support, he found the pathway to a thorough college education beset with many difficulties, but was determined to surmount them.鈥�

In Brooklyn, he was 鈥渁t once recognized as an able physician, and his practice grew rapidly.鈥�

Slim Stache

John Carroll Perkins, Class of 1882, might be wearing a pencil mustache, or perhaps it鈥檚 just a modest attempt at facial hair. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate, he served as pastor of the historic King鈥檚 Chapel in Boston. Fun fact: He was also the guardian of Emily Hale, often described as the confidante and muse of T.S. Eliot. 

Getting a Handle

Irish-born Thomas Singer, Class of 1890, had one of the longest handlebar mustaches at 乐播传媒 in the hair-raising 1800s. Singer died while at divinity school at Yale in 1894.

He Is the Walrus

Sporting a walrus mustache is Frank Hartford Smith, Class of 1873. Smith was a lawyer in Stockton, Calif.

Ministerial Mustache

Roscoe Nelson, Class of 1887, wears a natural handlebar mustache. 

Nelson earned a divinity degree from Yale and was pastor of the First Congregational Church in Windsor, Conn., for 40 years, retiring in 1931. 

In his retirement letter, he said, 鈥淚 lay down my office with deep regret, but with humble thankfulness for numerous tokens of divine favor for our united efforts.鈥�

Mayor鈥檚 Mustache

John Riley Dunton, Class of 1887, also wears a natural handlebar mustache.

Born in Searsmont, Maine, he taught school in Maine and was a school superintendent before becoming a lawyer. He also was elected mayor of Belfast in 1906. The surprise victory by the Democrat prompted bonfires and other forms of 鈥渉ilarity,鈥� reported the Bangor Daily News.

Bearded Friend

Thomas James Bollin, Class of 1879, wears 鈥渇riendly鈥� mutton chops, distinguished from typical mutton chops by how the sideburns meet the mustache. Bollin once described social equality as the 鈥渂rotherhood of man in every condition,鈥� which 2014 Commencement speaker Isabel Wilkerson called a 鈥渂eautiful definition.鈥�

The Goat

Edmund Randall Angell, Class of 1873, sports a full goatee.

A chemist who worked in his own New Hampshire lab, he patented a snowblower-type contraption that removed ice from sidewalks with rapidly rotating metal teeth. (Apparently, it never got much traction with consumers.)

It鈥檚 Curtains

Similar to Jonathan Stanton, philosophy and theology professor Benjamin Francis Hayes, circa 1872, wears a Shenandoah, also known as a chin curtain.

Puffery

As best we can figure, Ansel LaForest Lumbert, a non-graduate of the Class of 1879, is wearing a handlebar mustache paired with a 鈥渃hin puff.鈥� He took all that to Bowdoin, graduating in 1879 and becoming a lawyer in Houlton, Maine.

Yep, the getting is good here at 乐播传媒: getting the win, getting out the vote, and getting onto the gorgeous Quad.

It's cleanup time, and Mike Lecompte of Facility Services blows leaves into piles on the Historic Quad. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)聽

Noah Lobozzo 鈥�19 of New Gloucester, Maine, gives his 4-year-old nephew Jack Burnham a skateboard ride on the Library Quad. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

A dominating performance by first-year middle hitter Angel Echipue of Grafelfing, Germany, propelled the volleyball team past St. Joseph's College. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

In the Fireplace Lounge on Election Day, student volunteers help fellow students register to vote. From left, Megan Currie 鈥�19, Evan Goldberg 鈥�19, Emily Manter 鈥�18, and Christopher Hassan 鈥�19. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

What kind of public health career can a 乐播传媒 grad have? Courtney Bisbee '11, Alison Simmons '16, Elle Torrey '10, Steven Staffa '15, and Becky Gilden Zaha '01 discuss graduate school and their paths in public health during a panel in Commons on Oct. 12, 2017. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)

Carrie Murphey ’06, assistant dean of students for first-year programs, likens the experience of Orientation to a kaleidoscope.

“If one thing isn鈥檛 fitting quite right, or they鈥檙e feeling like, 鈥楬mmm, not quite sure how this feels,鈥� they have lots of opportunities and lots of clicks of the kaleidoscope to see themselves in other parts of 乐播传媒,” she says.

Photographers Phyllis Graber Jensen and Theophil Syslo followed members of the Class of 2021 for much of Orientation, as they walked Lewiston, learned about the importance of reasoned inquiry, and spent their days and nights in the woods, on a farm, or at sports practice.

The clicks of the kaleidoscope started Tuesday, Aug. 29, as the new students met advisers in various First-Year Seminars, continued with off-campus AESOP trips and on-campus varsity sports practices late in the week, then returned to campus for Tuesday’s Convocation and the start of classes on Wednesday.

Jaelene Perez '20 of the Bronx, Precious Johnson '20 of Chicago, and Jesus Carrera '20 of Waco, Texas, pose for student photographer Alexandria Onuoha '20 of Malden, Mass., during the OIE reception. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Wednesday, Sept. 6: Catching up at the OIE's reception, from left, are John Collantes '18 of Park Ridge, Ill., Sally Ceesay '18 of the Bronx, Jeanne Hua '18 of Honolulu, and Frederick Cheng '18 of San Leandro, Calif. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Wednesday, Sept. 6: Brooke Drabkin '18 of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., (facing camera) hugs Cash Huynh '18 of New Orleans during an Office of Intercultural Education reception held to welcome the Class of 2021 and give returning faculty, staff, and students a chance to connect and reconnect. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Wednesday, Sept. 6: Students listen to a discussion about the "Odyssey" during the first lesson of Lisa Maurizio鈥檚 First-Year Seminar, 鈥淐lassical Myths and Contemporary Art.鈥� Students in the course 鈥渆xplore the ways in which myths give members of a society, whether ancient or modern, meaningful tools to describe and explore issues, values, and conflicts.鈥� (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Tuesday, Sept. 5: After Convocation, Marshall Vale pours a cup of water from Lake Andrews on the soil around a red oak sapling near the Class of 1929 Gate. Each year, a memorial tree is planted to honor members of the 乐播传媒 community who have died in the past year. Marshall Vale鈥檚 wife Katie Vale, college librarian and vice president for information and library services, died in December. (Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College)