Tech (1882), Techie (1963)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

As far as I know, the only long-standing campus newspaper other than the
Harvard Crimson that has digitized its archive is MIT's paper, "The Tech",
dating back to 1881: <http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/>.  The OCR for the
Tech is far worse than for the Crimson, and there's no search facility
beyond using Google (also, there seem to be significant gaps in what's
searchable, particularly in the '50s and '60s).  But at least the original
page images are provided.

The Tech is naturally a good place to find citations for "Tech".  One
sense of "Tech", meaning 'an MIT student', is not in the OED (though see
"Techie" below).  This sense can be found throughout the paper from its
very first year of publication, 1881-82 (page numbers carry over from
issue to issue in the volume):

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1882 _The Tech_ (MIT) 11 Jan. 57/2 Harvard's new daily, the Herald, comes
to hand, its first issue containing a notice of the "Techs at the Globe."
http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_001/TECH_V001_S0059_P009.pdf
http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_001/TECH_V001_S0060_P010.pdf
-----
1882 _The Tech_ (MIT) 22 Feb. 92/1 It is because they have heard that
close attention to small things makes the successful man, that the "Techs"
take such good care of their mustaches.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_001/TECH_V001_S0094_P008.pdf
-----
1882 _The Tech_ (MIT) 5 Apr. 128/1 One of the Techs has a goat which he
says is more aesthetic than Oscar Wilde, -- it's all butt.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_001/TECH_V001_S0131_P008.pdf
-----
1882 _The Tech_ (MIT) 3 May 157/1 We understand that the near approach of
the annuals has caused several Techs to have their beds taken out of their
rooms, as they have no further use for them.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_001/TECH_V001_S0160_P009.pdf
-----

A cite from the Crimson slightly predates these:

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1882 _Harvard Crimson_ 3 Jan., "Techs" at the Globe Theatre. About one
hundred members of the Institute of Technology visited the Globe Theatre
last night.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=278928
-----

"Tech" as an abbreviation for "Institute of Technology" is dated by OED2
to 1906, but the Tech has it as early as Nov. 1882:

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1882 _The Tech_ (MIT) 8 Nov. 36/2 The Techs then kicked the ball off, but
the superior weight of the Yale team again carried the ball very near the
Tech's goal.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_002/TECH_V002_S0052_P010.pdf
-----

It's possible that's just a misplaced apostrophe ("Tech's goal" for
"Techs' goal").  But by 1884-85 "Tech" was being used attributively in the
Crimson, the Tech, and the New York Times:

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1884 _Harvard Crimson_ 27 Oct., After the ball was started in the middle
the Tech men made another rush towards our goal but were unable to hold
the ground thus gained.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=334902
-----
1885 _The Tech_ (MIT) 4 Feb. 104/2 We shall now cease croaking about a
lack of college spirit, as it is evident that a large percentage of Tech
students are industriously training for the Glee Club.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_004/TECH_V004_S0171_P010.pdf
-----
1885 _New York Times_ 8 Nov. 2/5 This afternoon the football teams of the
Institute of Technology and Williams College played the most exciting and
interesting game that has been seen in Boston. In the first half Bigelow
was disqualified for striking a "Tech" man, and Wentworth was substituted
for him.
-----

Surprisingly, a search for "Techie" meaning 'MIT student' doesn't turn up
anything before the 1980s, though this is probably due to the gaps in
Google's search facility mentioned above.  The more reliable Crimson
archive antedates what OED2 has (1969 for 'student in a school of
technology', 1981 for 'MIT student'):

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http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=499745
1963 _Harvard Crimson_ 1 Nov. This is the twenty-third year of the Schell
Regatta. It is conducted each year in honor of Erwin Schell, the M.I.T.
professor who instituted the sailing program for Techies.
-----

The Crimson also antedates "techie" in the sense of 'technician' (OED2 1970):

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http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=209914
1969 _Harvard Crimson_ 7 Mar. The audience at a Harvard show is pretty
unaware of techies--the backstage and front office people who organize,
frame and run a production--except as names on the right hand side of a
program.
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--Ben Zimmer