Student Leadership

Miscellania is Bowdoin’s oldest all-women a capella group. In 1972, Deb Stranges, a transfer student from Mount Holyoke, garnered interest in a complementary women’s group to the men’s group, the Meddiebempsters. The Meddies, founded in 1937, was the only a capella group on campus at the time. Stranges searched through the “M” section of the thesaurus to find a name similar to the Meddies for the new group, and Miscellania became an instant favorite, often spelled and pronounced as “Ms-cellania.” The College Catalogue officially recognized Miscellania in the 1976-77 academic year. In 2016, Miscellania released its album entitled “No Boys Allowed.” This photo from 1993 depicts Miscellania singing at the 200th anniversary of Bowdoin’s founding.

Miscellania Performance, photograph, 1993