Princeton University Archives

Princeton as it was, since 1746

[princetonarchives]

Menu Monday: This Knickerbocker Club seems to have been an eating club for the Princeton Class of 1881, rather than the famed New York club by that name. This 1881 farewell dinner was given by Charles Allen Munn of the class. The menu was printed at Dempsey & Carroll in New York, which is still in business as a stationery store.

Scrapbook Collection (AC026), Box 335

The entire Menu Monday series

[princetonarchives]

“This style of weather leads to profanity and ice cream.”

--Princetonian, June 7, 1877

[princetonarchives]

"It was a male-female ratio that made finding a seat for dinner in Commons akin to 'a stroll down death row,' as my classmate, Jane Leifer, once described it."

--Robin Herman '73, on being one of the first 148 women admitted to Princeton University in 1969, reflecting in the Princeton Alumni Weekly, June 1, 1983

[princetonarchives]

Headline from Daily Princetonian, June 5, 1935

[princetonarchives]

"Most young ladies would rather hurry down with a big trunk in a crowded special train, and go to four teas, meet a score of young men apiece whom they will never see again, dance all night, and then, in a few minutes, arise looking as fresh as they did on Easter Sunday, and smile good-byes at the depot to the breakfastless young men whom they have forsaken and sleepy to try to go on where they left off, while they themselves hurry back to town, and to anther dance the next night."

--Harper's Bazaar, June 3, 1893, urging young women to visit Princeton at less popular times if they want to see the college as it truly is

[princetonarchives]

Menu Monday: This is a menu from Chicago's Washington Park Club, December 30, 1905. It was found in a scrapbook made by Princeton alum Wilson Ferrand, Class of 1886.

We're not sure why Ferrand was in Chicago, but we do know that the Washington Park Club was a prominent country club in Chicago of that era.

Scrapbook Collection (AC026), Box 103

The entire Menu Monday series

[princetonarchives]

"None but ordinary business; viz., the reading of Excuses & passing judgement upon them."

--Princeton's faculty minutes, May 26, 1856

[princetonarchives]

Princeton University's Cannon Exercises, ca. 1897.

Cannon Exercises were once part of Commencement Week celebrations, and happened on Class Day. Students would gather for lighthearted speeches, then smoke clay pipes and smash them against the cannon (a relic of the Revolutionary War's Battle of Princeton, which is "planted" upright on Cannon Green behind Nassau Hall). Here, you can see the cannon decorated with flowers for the occasion.

Illustration from James W. Alexander's Princeton--Old and New: Recollections of Undergraduate Life (1898).

[princetonarchives]

Menu Monday: If you're planning on serving a burger and fries to someone this summer, maybe you'll be inspired by this February 6, 1953 ad in the Daily Princetonian. Why call it just a burger when it can be a "grilled Hamburg sandwich?" Why fries when you can have "French fried potatoes"? It's all in the presentation.

Renwick's Restaurant was a fixture in Princeton for 87 years, closing in 1970.

The entire Menu Monday series

[princetonarchives]

"In front is a large yard, shut off from the street by a brick wall, with pilasters at equal distances supporting wooden urns painted gray. This yard is not well kept and is covered with the dung of the animals that go there to browse on the grass. In the middle is an old iron cannon, a four-pounder, minus its carriage. This cannon and the bad condition of the wall with several of the urns fallen to the ground give an unkempt appearance to everything, so that you reach the building with a feeling of vexation that the students should have such a bad example before their eyes."

--A visitor to Princeton, describing Nassau Hall and the campus, May 24, 1794

[princetonarchives]

Amos Doolittle, "View of Nassau Hall, Princeton," ca. 1776.

Nassau Hall Iconography Collection (AC177), Box 1, Folder 2. 

[princetonarchives]

On May 21, 1998, local residents weighed in about plans for Princeton University's new campus center at a town meeting. Many disapproved a proposed arcade and sign on the north side of the building, for which the University had requested a zoning variance. Both students and townspeople are united in their negative views of the proposal. Former student body president Jeff Segal ’98, whose email above rallied the opponents of the design to gather at the meeting, said there, “I haven’t seen a structure so many students hated.” The town approved the plans for the building, but not for the arcade and sign. The University was not be allowed to put a large insignia on the south side of the building, either, because this is also judged to effectively be a sign.

Full text of Siegal's email:

Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 12:27:07 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jeffrey S. Siegel" <[email protected]> To: "Jeffrey S. Siegel" <[email protected]> Subject: Stop the Campus Center Arch! Hey everyone! Remember that archway that the University constructed in front of Palmer Hall last September that said "Center"? Do you remember how UGLY it was? Well...the University wants to build an even longer, and more hideous archway in front of Palmer Hall as part of Venturi's design for the new Campus Center. YOU CAN HELP STOP IT FROM HAPPENING!!! Tonight at Township Hall at 7:30 pm there is going to be a planning board meeting to discuss -- and VOTE -- on all aspects of the Campus Center Plans. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SHOW UP, THE PLANNING BOARD WON'T GRANT THE VARIANCE FOR THE ARCHWAY!!!! So basically I need your help. All you need to do is show up to the meeting. If you want to bring a sign, or give a short speech against the design that would be great -- but you can just sit and watch as well. Either way, your being there will really be helping to stop this from going forward. If you want to come, just meet at the Woodrow Wilson School turnaround at 8 pm (the public hearing part of the meeting doesn't start until 8 or so) and either I -- or someone else -- will meet you to drive you over. If you have a car, you can show up yourself by driving down to the Princeton Street until you see a building labeled "Township Municipal Complex" at Valley Rd (right by the intersection of Witherspoon and 206) and go straight in the front entrance of the building that looks like a school. The meeting shouldn't last too long, and your presence will make an ENORMOUS difference in whether this archway gets built! MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND COME TO THE MEETING! If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call at x8943. I should be in my room most of the afternoon. Please also feel free to send this to as many friends that you think might be interested in attending tonight's meeting. I look forward to seeing you there, Jeff

Email from Jeffrey Siegel, May 21, 1998. Undergraduate Student Government Records (AC185), Box 5.

The controversial building was named Frist Campus Center.

[princetonarchives]

This version of Princeton University's Whig Hall (shown in 1892) was designed by A. Page Brown, who also designed Clio Hall to look virtually identical to it. The original structures of "The Halls," as they were known, were built in the 1830s to house rivals the American Whig Society and the American Cliosophic Society, both founded in the colonial era, when they needed space beyond their original homes in Nassau Hall.

In 1889, crowds sought shelter from the rain on the porch of Whig Hall during the Cannon Exercises (part of Commencement Week celebrations). The floor collapsed under their weight. Fortunately, no one was injured, but it was concluded that the original wooden structures needed to be replaced to avoid future incidents. Imposing marble took place of wood. At the time they were made, the marble columns supporting the roof of Whig Hall were said to be the largest ever turned to date in the United States, at 19 feet 7 inches long and 2 feet 10 inches wide.

Photo: Historical Photograph Collection, Grounds and Buildings Series (AC111), Box LP06, Item 7289.

[princetonarchives]

Lantern slide of Princeton University’s School of Science, ca. 1890s.

Lantern Slide Collection (AC378), Box 1.

[princetonarchives]

Menu Monday: As advertised in the Princeton Press, George A. Dohm opened an ice cream saloon across from the college (now named Princeton University) on May 17, 1873. Dohm was already a well-established bakery owner at the time, having operated his Bread and Fancy Cake Bakery since 1868. The advertised "kisses" are meringues, while "macaronies" likely refers to macaroons.

According to a member of the Class of 1894, Dohm's was a popular hangout for students for decades, with the business expansion of the Dohm family soon including a restaurant, too:

There was one long table in the rear room where the students gathered, and every year a new top was placed on it, well fastened down. During the year the Seniors, sitting around this table, would carve their names on the top, cutting them in very deep, so that by the end of the year it represented a fair autograph album of the class. After Commencement this top was taken off, varnished, and fastened permanently on the ceiling or wall of the room.

The entire Menu Monday series

[princetonarchives]

Princeton Class of 1888 senior portrait, 1888. This photo was taken on May 9, 1888 in front of Witherspoon Hall.

Historical Photograph Collection, Class Photographs Series (AC181), Box 6.

[princetonarchives]

Tiger Tuesday: You often find Princeton’s mascot in the stands of sporting events, even if it isn’t facing the camera.

Photo from 1954 Bric-a-Brac

The entire Tiger Tuesday series