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Author: April C. Armstrong *14

  • This Week in Princeton History for February 29-March 6

    In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Ethel Barrymore is on campus, undergraduates head to Washington to celebrate a presidential inauguration, and more. March 1, 1969—The new Jadwin Gym is dedicated at a Harvard-Yale-Princeton track meet. March 2, 1931—Ethel Barrymore appears…

  • “Even Princeton”: Vietnam and a Culture of Student Activism, 1967-1972

    by Kyla Morgan Young GS College campuses in the 1960s and early ’70s were bastions of social and political activism. Students across the nation began to discover a renewed sense of political duty that came in the form of critique. Activism swelled around a myriad of issues including civil rights, gender equality, Apartheid, and most…

  • This Week in Princeton History for February 22-28

    In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Dan Quayle sparks protest, the Princetonian advocates smallpox vaccines, and more. February 22, 1990—Two students are arrested for disrupting a speech by Vice President Dan Quayle in Richardson Auditorium, yelling “stop the killing!” and “There’s women’s…

  • William Taylor’s “Doggie Wagon”

    Searching for materials in archival collections means, at times, trying to figure out how the people of the past would have labeled their photos, named their articles, or categorized their artifacts. They didn’t always use the same terms we would now. For this Black History Month, we examine William Taylor and how he illustrates the…

  • This Week in Princeton History for February 15-21

    In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, reports of a strange creature living in the lake captivate imaginations on campus, a banner is stolen, and more. February 16, 1758—The Board of Trustees of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) vote to…

  • Majority of James M. Beck Papers Now Available Online

    We are pleased to announce the completion of another digitization project. The bulk of the papers of James M. Beck (1861-1936), who enjoyed a long career as a lawyer, author, public speaker, Solicitor General, and U.S. Congressman, are now available online through the finding aid for collection MC007. Beck served as Solicitor General from 1921-1925…

  • This Week in Princeton History for February 8-14

    In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, sophmores take over Quadrangle Club, the Suffrage Walking Pilgrims make their way through campus, and more. February 8, 1991—Frustrated by their unsuccessful efforts to join other eating clubs during Bicker, 100 sophomores stage a…

  • The Changing Shape of American Football at the College of New Jersey (Princeton)

    With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, our thoughts have turned toward the history of American football. We’ve repeated the fact several times: On November 6, 1869, the first intercollegiate football match ever was played on College Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey, between the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and Rutgers…

  • This Week in Princeton University History for February 1-7

    In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Paramount Pictures pulls a movie over collegiate protest, Eleanor Roosevelt is on campus, and more. February 1, 1929—Under pressure from Princeton University’s president, John Grier Hibben, Paramount Pictures withdraws Varsity, a controversial movie set…

  • Woodrow Wilson and the Eating Clubs

    Written by Anna Rubin ’15 We are pleased to announce another newly digitized collection: the Woodrow Wilson Correspondence in the Office of the President Records. Wilson was president of Princeton University from 1902-1910, Governor of New Jersey 1911-1913, and U.S. President 1913-1921. This collection contains correspondence between Wilson and University faculty, administrators, alumni, and parents,…