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This Week in Princeton History for January 12-18
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, final exams prove stressful, the Nude Olympics meet their end, and more. January 12, 1941—A pre-finals blackout distresses residents of five Princeton dormitories. The next morning, the Daily Princetonian will report: “After hesitatingly peering…
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“The Man Who Was Right Too Soon”: Nuclear Test Ban film
By Sarah Robey [We recently digitized a campaign film from the Adlai E. Stevenson Papers, located in our Public Policy Papers. The film, “Nuclear Test Ban,” was produced as a televised campaign program for Stevenson’s 1956 presidential bid against Dwight D. Eisenhower. The film speaks to an important transitional moment in the American encounter with nuclear…
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This Week in Princeton History for January 5-11
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Albert C. Kinsey’s groundbreaking report is sold out everywhere (even the library!), students urge the administration to admit women, and more. January 5, 1948—The Albert C. Kinsey report, “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male,”…
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The Rittenhouse Orrery
Dear Mr. Mudd: Q: What is an orrery, and how did Princeton University come to own one? How was it damaged in the Battle of Princeton? A: An orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system. Orreries were regarded as essential teaching equipment for 18th-century lectures on “natural philosophy” (the physical sciences). Although invented…
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This Week in Princeton History for December 22-28
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a dorm thief is caught, a movie about an alum premieres in town, and more. December 22, 1898—A granite monument in Arlington National Cemetery at the grave of Major General William W. Belknap, Class…
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This Week in Princeton History for December 15-21
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the University gets a radio station, a movie filmed on campus premieres in town, and more. December 15, 1940—WPRB’s predecessor, WPRU, gets its start with daily broadcasts from 7:15 to 9:15 a.m. and from…
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This Week in Princeton History for December 8-14
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the Triangle Show appears on national television, the Board of Trustees votes to establish the Graduate School, and more. December 8, 1988—The Student Friends of the Art Museum get the first look at the…
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“The New Order”: How Japan’s Attack on Pearl Harbor (Briefly) Led to Women Enrolling in Classes at Princeton University
“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of Japan”: so began Franklin Delano Roosevelt on December 8, in a speech asking the United States Congress for a declaration of war. Princeton University didn’t…
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This Week in Princeton History for December 1-7
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the Daily Princetonian elects its first female chairperson, Andrew Carnegie gives Princeton a lake, and more. December 2, 1978—The 102-year-old Daily Princetonian elects Anne C. Mackay-Smith ’80 its first female chairperson. In June 1980,…
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