#class of 1886

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Menu Monday: Princeton Class of 1886's first reunion dinner, June 20, 1887. We believe "Old Carl's," where this dinner was held, was Carl Hellerman's restaurant, which stood across Nassau Street from the College Library (Chancellor Green Hall), in his hotel, Princeton House.

Although this was their "first reunion," it was likely not their first post-graduation dinner. In December 1886, a group of classmates decided to plan a dinner in New York. Typically, such dinners cost $2.50 each to attend, or about $86 today.

Scrapbook Collection (AC026), Box 103

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Throwback Thursday: Rodman Wanamaker, Princeton Class of 1886, sponsored two expeditions to the American West to document Native Americans (the “vanishing race”) in 1908 and 1909. This program, found in Wanamaker’s alumni file, is from an event at the American Museum of Natural History where the expeditions’ photographer, Joseph Kossuth Dixon, lectured about his experiences and showed his photographs and motion pictures from his time in Indian Country. Wanamaker’s intent in funding these expeditions was to preserve a record of his vision of indigenous peoples. Dixon noted that Wanamaker wanted to convene this last council with only those who had “typical racial characteristics.”

Historical Subject Files (AC109), Box 182

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Throwback Thursday: Though we have more technology available to do it than prior generations did, photos that use altered imagery are nothing new. This portrait of Henry Cumming Lamar of the Class of 1886 in his Princeton football uniform is a good example of an altered 19th-century image. The photo, almost certainly taken in a studio, uses a backdrop to make it appear Lamar was on campus (that’s the so-called “Old Chapel” behind Lamar) and a cut out image of the cannon on Princeton’s Cannon Green. The only thing “real” in this photo is Lamar and the bit of grass surrounding the “cannon.”

Historical Photograph Collection, Alumni Photograph Series (AC058), Box MP34

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Menu Monday: Princeton’s Class of 1886 graduation dinner, June 23, 1886. “Old Carl’s,” where the dinner was held, was probably Carl Hellerman’s restaurant, which stood across Nassau Street from the College Library (Chancellor Green Hall), in his hotel, Princeton House.

Princeton University Class Records (AC130), Box 24

The entire Menu Monday series

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The cover of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) Class of 1886′s first reunion book (1887). We like the orange and black checkerboard pattern here.

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Invitation to junior orations at the College of New Jersey (Princeton), Class of 1886. Nassau Hall and Cannon Green are both pictured here.

Princeton University Class Records (AC130), Box 24

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Tiger Tuesday: The tiger on this dance card for the Sophomore Reception hosted by the Princeton Class of 1888 for the graduating Class of 1886 might look more like a house cat, but it does seem intended to have been a tiger. As we've noted before, the tiger is in the eye of the beholder.

General Manuscripts Collection (AC001), Box 5

The entire Tiger Tuesday series

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"The awful bunching of hard examinations at the end of the first term of Senior year is one of the characteristics of our course of study as at present arranged."

--Princetonian, December 7, 1885