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1993 Baccalaureate Speaker Garry B. Trudeau
On Sunday June 6th,1993 at 2pm students were seated in the University Chapel to hear the remarks of Baccalaureate speaker Garry B. Trudeau, cartoonist and creator of Doonesbury. Trudeau was also the first person to receive a Pulitzer for a comic strip. This film shows some of the only documentation of the 1993 Baccalaureate ceremony…
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Princeton’s 250th Anniversary Commencement with speaker President Bill Clinton
On June 6th, 1996, as part of the University’s 250th Anniversary celebration, U.S. President Bill Clinton delivered the principal address at the 249th Commencement ceremonies, a departure from the Princeton tradition of having the University President deliver the ceremony’s major remarks. The video includes the entire commencement program starting with the procession (00:02), then the…
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Class of 1929 Commencement and a potpourri of student activities
While the traditions around Commencement have changed some over the University’s 267 year history, overall it is a remarkably consistent ceremony. Let’s take a look back to 1929. This video shows a number of scenes from a typical Commencement week. We begin with the procession of graduates led by the faculty. Following that, you see a…
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Name Dropping: A list of famous Commencement Week speakers at Princeton
In a previous post we discussed the history behind commencement at The College of New Jersey and Princeton University. Here, we highlight the individuals and include links to video and news articles. For the years 2011-2016 each name will link to an individual streaming video courtesy of Princeton University MediaCentral. These are mobile friendly. 2016…
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The history of Princeton University Commencement Ceremonies
Every year leading up to the final weeks of classes, commencement and reunions, we receive questions related to the history of commencement activities. In this post we dive right into that subject! The original commencement of the College of New Jersey was held in Newark, New Jersey on November 9th, 1748. There was a procession, an address from President…
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Princeton wins MARAC Finding Aid Award
We are very pleased to announce that the Princeton University Library’s Archival Description working group has been awarded the 2012 Frederic M. Miller Finding Aid Award by the Mid Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC). The award recognizes outstanding finding aids and finding aid systems in the Mid Atlantic region. Submissions are evaluated in the areas…
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Digitization and the Council on Foreign Relations
In March our vendor began scanning the first batch of material to be digitized as part of our grant. We’ve sent 15 boxes (and over 15,000 pages) of the Council on Foreign Relations Records to be scanned. The material will be returning to Mudd in April and all 15,000+ images should be available to anyone…
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ACLU Court Document Summons King’s Last Days
A recent reference inquiry brought to light a document within the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Records that provides a record of one of the events that took place in the days surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. W.J. Michael Cody, an attorney in Memphis,…
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New Accession: Atomic-bombed Roof Tiles from Hiroshima University
The University Archives was recently given the honor and responsibility of providing a home for seven roof tiles that sustained damage in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. The roof tiles were collected in a river bed near ground zero of the atomic bomb explosion. Along with the roof tiles, the…
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Why — and How — We Digitize
It’s February, and we’re now in the second month of our NHPRC-funded digitization project. In twenty-three more months, we’ll have completed scanning and uploading 400,000 pages of our most-viewed material to our finding aids, and anyone with an internet connection will be able to view it. This is just the most recent effort to introduce…
Princeton University Library
University Archives
