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Solitary Internment: Kentaro Ikeda ’44
This post is part of a series on education and war related to our current exhibition, “Learning to Fight, Fighting to Learn: Education in Times of War,” on display through June 2018. Please stop by to learn more. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the Secretary of War…
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This Week in Princeton History for December 4-10
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, dorm residents “grope their way in the darkness,” an epidemic halts the swim team, and more. December 5, 1878—The Princetonian complains about the lack of lighting in Reunion Hall: “Another term is almost gone,…
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This Week in Princeton History for November 20-26
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a woman’s presence in class draws comment, new penalties for late library books are imposed, and more. November 20, 1930—Princeton University has set a record for most student disappearances, with more missing persons than…
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This Week in Princeton History for July 31-August 6
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, an Olympian’s visa is revoked, laundry services are scarce, and more. July 31, 1996—Media Services loses about 30% of its equipment and three staff members are stranded on an elevator in 3-foot-high water when…
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This Week in Princeton History for July 17-23
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a magazine runs an unsettling story about a professor, a graduate tells a federal prosecutor he has been pressured to commit perjury, and more. July 17, 1989—New York Magazine runs a 7-page article on…
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This Week in Princeton History for February 27-March 5
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Colonial Club’s financial pressures force its closure, women march on Washington, and more. February 28, 1946—Princeton University announces that women will live in student housing on campus for the first time, opening Brown Hall…
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The American Civil Liberties Union and the Fight Against Japanese American Internment
This Sunday marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the mass expulsion of Japanese Americans from the west coast of the United States. Specifically, the order allowed the Secretary of War to designate certain regions as “military areas” from which anyone could be expelled at the discretion of the Secretary or his…
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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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This Week in Princeton History for August 15-21
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, final exams ask about America’s future, a sophomore wins an unusual contest involving a bus, and more. August 15, 1945—Future Dean of the Princeton University Chapel Ernest Gordon is freed after 40 months as…
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“Womanhood on Tiger Territory”: The First Women to Live in Princeton University Dormitories
We have previously written about the first women to take a class at Princeton University, unseating nearly two centuries of tradition. Today, we’re highlighting what our collections tell us about another group of women who changed Princeton’s established patterns as the first to live in campus dorms, another result of World War II’s radical changes…
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