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Did James Madison suffer a nervous collapse due to the intensity of his studies?
Question: While at Princeton, did James Madison suffer a nervous collapse due to the intensity of his studies? The story of Madison’s supposed nervous collapse in the days before commencement and its place in Princeton lore are primarily the result of a brief note in MacLean’s “History of the College of New Jersey” which states…
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Alexander Hamilton shooting the cannonball that destroys the portrait of King George
Question: What book contains the first reference to Alexander Hamilton shooting the cannonball that crashes through Nassau Hall and destroys the portrait of King George? According to a popular story told and retold over the years, during the Battle of Princeton young artillery commander Alexander Hamilton directed his cannons at the remaining redcoats who had…
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Allen Dulles papers released by CIA to Princeton are now online
The Central Intelligence Agency has released to Princeton University some 7,800 documents covering the career of Allen W. Dulles, the agency’s longest-serving director, which now can be viewed online at http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/st74cq497. Dulles (1893-1969), a Princeton alumnus who headed the CIA from 1953 to 1961, was renowned for his role in shaping U.S. intelligence operations during…
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Alumni give 1836 Copybook to University Archives
A wonderful end of the year gift came to the Princeton University Archives through the generosity of eight alumni who serve on the Princetoniana Committee. The item, a copybook from Class of 1836 graduate Samuel Humes Porter, was for sale on eBay. Dave Cleaves ’78, the organizer of “pBay”–a group of alumni who collect Princetoniana–noted…
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Introducing Dear Mr. Mudd
The staff of the Mudd Manuscript Library answers over 2,000 e-mail inquiries a year, and those which should be of interest to a wider audience will be shared via this blog. This blog category is named Dear Mr. Mudd because in a few instances some of the e-mails sent to our general library account are…
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Meet Mudd’s Dan Brennan
Name: Dan Brennan Title and Duties: Special Collections Assistant IV, responsible for cataloging and processing of University Archives collections Recent projects: Processing the Department of Oriental Studies Records, Department of Music Records, Department of Politics Records, Office of Government Affairs Records, and Dean of Undergraduate Students Records, as well as tying together the last stages…
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Meet Mudd’s Helene van Rossum
Name: Helene van Rossum Title and Duties: Special Collections Assistant. Processing collections, organizing exhibitions, and “all other duties as assigned!” Recent projects: I processed recent additions to the John Van Antwerp MacMurray Papers , which included about 1500 photographs taken by MacMurray while Secretary to the U.S. Legation in Peking (1913-1917) as well as 16…
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Electronic records presentation in PPT
For those of you who missed my presentation “What I Learned This Summer: A Week at SAA’s First Electronic Records Summer Camp” that I delivered Friday, December 14, 2007, you can download my PowerPoint presentation here. This was for all interested Library staff and was given in conjunction with two other speakers who discussed what…
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Princeton economics processing project completed
More than 1,100 feet of records providing insights into 20th-century economics history available Princeton University’s Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library has completed a two-year project to process all of its economics-related public policy collections to modern standards. These collections provide a rich resource about American economic thought and policies in the 20th century and…
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Exhibition features diplomat’s photos from rural China
Drawing from more than 1,600 photographs taken in rural China between 1913 and 1917, the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University is hosting an exhibition based on the collection of the American diplomat John Van Antwerp MacMurray (1881-1960). Nine Dragon Mountain near T’an Che Ssu, September 1914 (MacMurray Photograph Additions, Volume VI, #22)…
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