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This Week in Princeton University History for June 23-29

by April C. Armstrong *14

In this week’s installment in our recurring series, foraging for fruit is not appreciated, a student is disciplined for distributing prohibited literature, and more.

June 23, 1786—John Rhea Smith and three other members of the Class of 1787 forage for cherries at a local farm. In his diary, Smith notes they are “fortunate enough to find them in tolerable plenty,” though the farmer is displeased to find students in his trees without permission. After the cherry farmer confronts them “in a violent rage,” the students return to eat bread and cheese at Nassau Hall.

June 24, 1886—For those in the area, admissions exams will be offered today and tomorrow at the office of Flourney & Mhoon, 191 California Street, San Francisco. Notice has been published in San Francisco’s Daily Evening Bulletin.

June 27, 1867—The faculty minutes note,

Theodore Stuart of the Sophomore Class was dismissed from College for entering the Church, masked, during the exercises on the evening before Commencement, and attempting to distribute a prohibited publication known as “The Sophomore Rake.”

The Nassau Rake: Edited and Published by the Sophomore Class of the College of New Jersey, Princeton: June, 1856.
The earliest example of the Rake in our collections dates from June 1856, but evidence suggests it may have been extant earlier; the Nassau Literary Review complains of Yale students copying from the Rake of 1852, for example. Despite it being a prohibited publication, the Rake appeared consistently, then sporadically, in the 1850s and 1860s. It may have been published even into the 1870s, as suggested by some reports. The Rake–sometimes known as the Nassau Rake and sometimes the Sophomore Rake–was an opportunity for sophomores to “rake” the classes immediately before and after them, with humorous but often mean-spirited poetry and other writings.

June 29, 1935—The wife of popular local barber Jack Honore, known for his ability to remember the names of every Princeton student, receives a letter from him from Salt Lake City informing her he will be home in a few days. Having disappeared from Cape May on May 1, Honore says he has been suffering from amnesia after a nervous breakdown.

Did you read the previous installment in this series?

Fact check: We always strive for accuracy, but if you believe you see an error, please contact us.

April C. Armstrong *14

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