The art on this 1958 Vintage Vanderbilt Commodores Hat has been custom produced by Vintage Brand. Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million endowment; Vanderbilt hoped that his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War. Vanderbilt is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and has been the conference's only private school for a half-century.