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This Week in Princeton History for June 27-July 3
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Ulysses S Grant visits the campus, women take classes for the first time, and more. June 27, 1871—Sitting U.S. President Ulysses S Grant visits the College of New Jersey (Princeton) for the first time.
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The Bank Holiday of 1933 at Princeton University
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated President of the United States on Saturday, March 4, 1933. Immediately following his inauguration weekend, at 1:00 AM on March 6, Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2039. This action ordered all banks in the United States to close. No one would be able to withdraw, transfer, or deposit money between Monday, March…
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This Week in Princeton History for June 20-26
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the first collegiate track contest is held on campus, Japanese visitors ceremonially forgive scientists for their role in the development of the atomic bomb, and more. June 20, 1779—William Richardson Davie (Class of 1776)…
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“A Princeton Student’s Letter to His Father” and the Election of 1912
With Father’s Day coming up this weekend and the United States in the midst of a particularly contentious election season, this seemed like perfect timing to highlight a 1912 pamphlet found in the Princeton University Publications Collection (AC364), “A Princeton Student’s Letter to His Father and His Father’s Reply” (Box 2).
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This Week in Princeton History for June 13-19
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the campus newspaper gets its start, a senior carries the Olympic torch, and more. June 13, 1908—The first-ever session of Princeton Summer Camp begins with 17 boys from Philadelphia. In later years, the camp…
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This Week in Princeton History for June 6-12
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a decision is reached about the location of the Graduate College, swords are banned from campus, and more. June 7, 1910—A long battle ends when the Board of Trustees accepts the bequest of Isaac…
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Princeton University and “Meet Me in St. Louis”
By Madeline Lea ’16 In the opening scenes of the 1944 MGM motion picture Meet Me in St. Louis, Lon Smith receives his Princeton University Catalogue in the mail (view the clip here). Lon, the eldest child of the Smith family, has been accepted to Princeton in the fall, and his going away party is the…
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“This Is More Than a School”: James M. Stewart ’32’s Princeton
When we launched our Tumblr page in January 2015, we filled it with a variety of content on the history of Princeton University, but it didn’t take long for us to discover that one alumnus in particular consistently received a lot of attention on the platform: James Maitland Stewart ’32. In honor of this, we…
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This Week in Princeton History for May 23-29
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a firecracker explodes in Nassau Hall, an athlete pitches the first no-hitter ever recorded in baseball history, and more. May 24, 1916—Princeton professor Alfred Noyes gives a public reading of his poetry, including his…
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