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This Week in Princeton History for June 5-11
In this week’s installment of our recurring series, the baseball team has a disappointing loss, Georgia residents resolve to tar and feather an alum, and more. June 5, 1909—In a disappointing showing for the Tigers in New Haven, Yale shuts out Princeton’s baseball team 6 to 0. June 6, 1836—Citizens of Hillsborough, Georgia, meet to…
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This Week in Princeton History for May 29-June 4
In this week’s installment of our recurring series, students attempt to address the problem of “Shenanigagging,” a veteran proposes a memorial, and more. May 30, 1872—At a mass meeting called by the senior class, students discuss the problem of cheating on exams, then vote to condemn what is known in local slang as “Shenanigagging.” June…
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This Week in Princeton History for December 28-January 3
In this week’s installment of our recurring series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a former student defends the institution to the press, the Western Pennsylvania Club gathers in Pittsburgh, and more. December 30, 1991—At the invitation of the Kuwaiti government, two students leave for an all-expense paid…
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This Week in Princeton History for September 24-30
In this week’s installment of our returning series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a sophomore explains the cause of her 15 minutes of fame, the Whig-Cliosophic Society takes a stand against pornographic films, and more. September 24, 1998—In an editorial in the Daily Princetonian, Laura Vanderkam ’01…
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This Week in Princeton History for January 1-7
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Baker Memorial Rink opens, the status of graduate alumni is in dispute, and more. January 1, 1891—Students gather to ring in the new year, but become so absorbed in their recreational activities that they…
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“The Future Princeton Is Whatever Emerges from the Battle Now Joined”: The Concerned Alumni of Princeton, 1972-1986
By Mario Garcia ’18 In the aftermath of various social movements that transformed the United States throughout the 1960s, the late 1960s and early 1970s served as its own transformative era for Princeton University: with the introduction of undergraduate coeducation, increased enrollment of racial minorities, and formation of the first recognized student group for gay…
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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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“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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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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