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This Week in Princeton History for August 15-21
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, final exams ask about America’s future, a sophomore wins an unusual contest involving a bus, and more. August 15, 1945—Future Dean of the Princeton University Chapel Ernest Gordon is freed after 40 months as…
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Howard Edwards Gansworth and the “Indian Problem” at Princeton
For people of European descent carving out space for themselves in the present borders of the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a major barrier: people already lived there. The nation did not regard this as an insurmountable hurdle, however. America tried a variety of things as it expanded westward: driving Native…
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This Week in Princeton History for August 8-14
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a sophomore heads to Mississippi for Freedom Summer, a freshman meets Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office, and more. August 9, 1850—After a journey of nearly three weeks from Maybank, Georgia, Charles C. Jones,…
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This Week in Princeton History for August 1-7
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a movie featuring the campus premieres, the library implements a new security policy, and more. August 1, 1944—Wilson, a biopic film about Woodrow Wilson of the Class of 1879 partially set and filmed on…
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This Week in Princeton History for July 25-31
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Presbyterians worry about drinking, the campus operator has a bit less to do, and more. July 27, 1937—William H. Smathers, who represents New Jersey in the U.S. Senate, writes a response to a letter from…
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“Womanhood on Tiger Territory”: The First Women to Live in Princeton University Dormitories
We have previously written about the first women to take a class at Princeton University, unseating nearly two centuries of tradition. Today, we’re highlighting what our collections tell us about another group of women who changed Princeton’s established patterns as the first to live in campus dorms, another result of World War II’s radical changes…
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This Week in Princeton History for July 18-24
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a group is disciplined for a bovine prank, an alumnus opens the Democratic National Convention, and more. July 18, 1790—Three students are expelled and a fourth is disciplined for an incident the previous June…
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This Week in Princeton History for July 11-17
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the logistics of emancipation are debated, plans for a School of Science are approved, and more. July 11, 1944—Robert S. Ward ’42, a forward artillery observer, is killed in action in France. July 12,…
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This Week in Princeton History for July 4-10
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a new mandatory fitness program begins, a professor’s research revises a 50-year-old theory, and more. July 4, 1938—A record-setting crowd of 25,000 turns out to view a fireworks display in Palmer Stadium that includes exploding…
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Dr. Levi Myers and Antebellum American Jewishness
In our previous research into the earliest records of Jewish presence at Princeton University, we uncovered something unexpected. Our Undergraduate Alumni Records 1748-1920 file on Mordecai Myers, Class of 1812, contains correspondence between Mordecai’s father, Levi Myers, and a man named Cleland Kinlock. Though they do not mention Princeton or Mordecai Myers, and thus would…
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