The first organized institutions of learning took form during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, generally under the jurisdiction of the church. Academic regalia, as we know it today, has evolved from the robes, hoods, and caps worn mainly for warmth in unheated buildings by the clerics, monks and priests who were the first students.

European universities continue to show great diversity in their academic dress. In the United States, as a result of our English heritage, caps and gowns have been used since colonial times by the faculties of some universities and became generally standardized about 1895.

The hood that hangs over the back of the gown represents both the field of study and the university that conferred the degree. The kelly green velvet on the medicine hood is symbolic of healing herbs.

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