#class of 1893

[princetonarchives]

On October 3, 1890, a group of Princeton sophomores put these posters up all around Trenton. These "Proclamations," or "Procs," aimed to needle the incoming students. The frosh followed them around town ripping them down, but as the Trenton Times noted, "It is understood that the sophomores will have a copy of this proclamation preserved in the college archives."

Among other things, the proclamations warned incoming students,

1. No Freshman shall be seen out of his room except when absolutely necessary. On such occasions, meeting ANYONE, he will take off his hat, and when meeting a Sophomore, he will take off his shoes also. 2. No Freshman shall carry anything resembling a cane, EXCEPT A TOOTH-PICK, which must be concealed. (Gold heads not allowed.) 3. No Freshman shall ever dare to gaze on the sacred colors, ORANGE and BLACK, much less, shall he ever wear them on his filthy person or have them in the cheesy hole where he drags out his miserable existence. (All Freshmen will at once provide themselves with Green Lamp Shades.) 4. No Freshman shall be allowed to smoke a pipe or cigar. Cigarettes permitted, if not inhaled. 5. Freshmen shall neither enter the Billiard Room nor occupy the Grand Stand. All attempts at cheering and 'chippy chasing' are strictly forbidden.

The Class of 1893 does, in fact, appear to have archived their posters. You can find them in the Princeton University Class Records (AC130), Cabinet 7, Drawer 6, Folder 3.

[princetonarchives]

"In Nassau Street I descended from a station surrey and looked across the front campus at Nassau Hall, determined not to like it. Something unexpected happened to me--gray-brown old stone, ivies, elms, the cupola of Old North high in the sunshine--suddenly it was with me as though my skeptical and inquiring glance had been returned, not by a stranger but with kindly warmth by a grand old person already my friend. Thus instantly Harvard, not inconsolable, lost a student..."

--Booth Tarkington, Princeton Class of 1893, on why he chose Princeton over Harvard, in the Saturday Evening Post, August 23, 1931

[princetonarchives]

Princeton University's Nassau Hall, drawn ca. 1893, possibly by Pennington Satterthwaite, Class of 1893.

Nassau Hall Iconography Collection (AC177), Cabinet 7, Drawer 2, Folder 1.

[princetonarchives]

The action of the senior classes of the last two years in adopting the cap and gown during the spring term has been a most interesting experiment and one that has been well received by the college. There is no more pleasing distinction nor one that is more in keeping with the dignity of the class that has reached the highest position of college authority and is about to sever forever its connection with undergraduate life…

The Princetonian, on the Class of 1893 deciding to wear caps and gowns for the rest of the academic year, March 23, 1893

[princetonarchives]

In this senior portrait taken in 1893, only one member of the Princeton’s graduating class (see back row) wore a cap and gown.

Historical Photograph Collection, Class Photographs Series (AC181), Box 13.

[princetonarchives]

It used to be a common tradition for Princeton sophomores to haze incoming students. This poster, put up by members of the Class of 1892 in 1889, directed the Class of 1893 to observe a variety of rules, including what may strike modern readers as strange: Frosh were forbidden to wear orange and black or decorate their dorm rooms with the colors:

“WHEREAS, Your greenness and  your chubby pink and white cheeks can have no connection with the sacred orange and black,we forbid the exhibition of it in any shape and form, either upon your loathsome frame or within your filthy dens.”

Princeton University Class Records (AC130)