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This Week in Princeton History for May 18-24
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, women’s lacrosse wins it all, a popular professor packs Alexander Hall, and more. May 20, 1963—The Woodrow Wilson School building, renamed Corwin Hall, is moved 100 yards to make way for the new home…
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Reunions and the P-Rade
Princeton alumni have a passion for college reunions that is hard to find at most institutions. Each class descends upon the campus every May, as they have for generations. In its early years, College of New Jersey (Princeton) drew alumni back to campus for Commencement, to meet classmates, to reunite with friends, and/or visit with favorite professors, both informally…
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This Week in Princeton History for May 11-17
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Charles Lindbergh sneaks through campus, baseball makes its television debut, and more. May 12, 1999—The Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Princeton University hold a memorial service in Firestone Plaza for three Chinese…
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“Dear Mother … with Heaps of Love”
This Mother’s Day, we thought we’d give a shout out to all the Princeton moms. Though Princeton has changed a lot over the years, one thing has remained pretty constant: many students want to share their academic triumphs, heartbreaks, and other local news with their mothers, who once received letters like this one and today…
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This Week in Princeton History for May 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 graduate pioneers new territory in aviation, a sitting American president visits the campus, and more. May 4, 1970—On the same day as the Ohio National Guard shoots and kills four students at Kent…
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Eating Clubs and “The Street”
Dear Mr. Mudd: Q. What are “eating clubs”? Did F. Scott Fitzgerald make them up? What is “The Street”? A. Princeton alumnus F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel This Side of Paradise (1920) gave the world a glimpse into the exclusive social enclaves known as the Princeton eating clubs through the eyes of fictional student Amory Blaine.…
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This Week in Princeton History for April 27-May 3
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a dorm pioneers indoor plumbing, students look for ways to protest peacefully, and more. April 27, 1877—Witherspoon Hall is completed. It is the first dormitory in the country with indoor plumbing.
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“This Ceremony Was Not Sanctioned”: Gay Marriage at Princeton
With the policy that young lovers of the same sex may no longer sign the marriage register and that Michael Beer and Jason Rudy will have a retractory asterisk placed by their entry, neither side of the aisle gets what it wants. … No one who has attended ours, the most pragmatic of all universities,…
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This Week in Princeton History for April 20-26
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a member of the original House of Nassau visits campus, emails about Hillary Clinton clog inboxes, and more. April 21, 1920—The Daily Princetonian reports on a new fashion trend: “Blue denim has at last…
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Princeton Mourns Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. exactly 150 years ago. As Americans did throughout the country, Princetonians immediately went into mourning. The loss was more profound given that the nation had emerged from a devastating Civil War less than a week before. Princeton’s ties to Lincoln are reflected in various collections…
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