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A Princeton President, Special Collections, and Supreme Court Precedents
This post is the second this week concerning recent Supreme Court decisions and their relation to materials housed within Princeton University Library’s Special Collections. Please see the Special Collections post on the Indian Child Welfare Act for more. By Dan Linke The Supreme Court’s recent decision on the place of race in college admissions has…
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“He Decided to Conquer the Place that Had Conquered Him”: Peter Putnam ’42 *50’s Princeton, Part II
In Part I of this two-part series, I told the story of how Peter Putnam ’42 *50 lost his sight in a suicide attempt and fought for the right to return to Princeton University and finish his degree. In this second installment, I detail the life Putnam lived as a student, an employee, and an…
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Dear Mr. Mudd: Who Was Princeton’s First International Student?
Dear Mr. Mudd, Can you tell me who Princeton’s first international student was? Were there international students in the first graduating class? As with all questions about “firsts,” this one is too complicated to answer simply with someone’s name. We are aware that our records aren’t comprehensive, so we can only provide what we…
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The Problem with “Firsts,” Part I: Archival Silence and Black Students at Princeton University
This is the first in a two-part series about archival silence and the “first” Black Princetonians. The second post in this series will consider Black staff. People often ask us about the “first” person to do something in a given demographic. I previously wrote about the difficulty with determining who the “first” Jewish student was—and…
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Debating Race at Princeton in the 1940s, Part II: Roundtable News and the Liberal Union
This is the second post in a two-part series examining Princeton University’s debates over admitting African Americans in the 1940s. These debates began in earnest due to the dedication of one undergraduate in the Class of 1943, Francis Lyons “Frank” Broderick, whose efforts were the focus of the first post in this series. Here, I…
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Debating Race at Princeton in the 1940s, Part I: Francis L. Broderick ’43
This is the first post in a two-part series examining Princeton University’s debates over admitting African Americans in the 1940s, which began in earnest partly due to the dedication of one undergraduate in the Class of 1943, Francis Lyons “Frank” Broderick. By April C. Armstrong *14 and Dan Linke At first glance, Francis Lyons “Frank”…
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“The End of a Monastery”: Princeton’s First Female Graduate Students
The Princeton University Graduate Announcement for 1961-1962 warned potential applicants, “Admissions are normally limited to male students.” Yet this “adverbial loophole,” as the Daily Princetonian termed it, left room for some admissions that were not “normal” for Princeton at the time. Within the loophole, dozens of women became degree candidates before the advent of undergraduate…
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Integrating Princeton University: Robert Joseph Rivers ’53
As we have previously pointed out, Princeton’s first African American undergraduates were not purposefully admitted: they were instead brought as part of a Navy training program during World War II. In 1945, Trustee Laurence G. Payson wrote to fellow member of the Class of 1916 John McFerran Barr to explain the presence of black students…
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Dear Mr. Mudd: Who Was Princeton’s First Jewish Student?
Q. Dear Mr. Mudd, Who was the first Jewish student at Princeton? A. An exhibit at the Historical Society of Princeton speculated that Albert Mordecai of the Class of 1863 was “very likely the first” Jewish student at the College of New Jersey (now named Princeton University). Although Mordecai might well have been the first Jewish student…
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Imaginary Princetonians
There have been many famous Princetonians, but there have also been a number of famous—or perhaps infamous—imaginary members of the Princeton community. Here we take a look at the nonexistent people who became legends on campus. Adelbert L’Hommedieu X (Bert Hormone), Class of 1917 The Class of 1917 invented an imaginary member and provided regular…
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