#princetonstaff

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“I guess they chased him the hell out of Ireland—he didn’t like them potatoes.”

--Walt Coan, the elderly son of a former Princeton staffer, as quoted in the Daily Princetonian on why his family had immigrated to Princeton in the 1830s or 1840s, January 22, 1986

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College of New Jersey (renamed Princeton University in 1896) servant Dennis "Mickey" Boyle, ca. 1877. 

Historical Photograph Collection, Individuals Series (AC067), Box 1.

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I can remember working for professors (at their homes) when I was only in high school who said they didn’t want ‘different ones’ there. … They knew they didn’t want Afro-Americans, they did not want Jewish people. I knew this because they told me. And I couldn’t understand that.

Eva Felicia (McEwen) Redding, who was born in Princeton in 1922, on growing up and working in and around Princeton University, in the Daily Princetonian, April 22, 1993

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The Problem with “Firsts,” Part II: Archival Silence and Black Staff at Princeton University

This is the second in a two-part series about archival silence and the “first” African Americans at Princeton University. The first post in this series addressed the history of Black students. In l…

Last week on the Mudd Library blog, April C. Armstrong *14 wrote about the problem with “firsts” through the lens of Black students. This week, she writes about the so-called “first” Black staff at Princeton, including Belle da Costa Greene, who worked for the Princeton University Library while passing for white.

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Bulletin Elm, ca. 1885. Princeton’s preferred method of communicating announcements prior to the 1880s was to tack them to this tree near Nassau Hall. When the tree began to die, efforts were made to try to keep it standing, but it was ultimately removed in 1888. Though posters would still be put up around campus, the main outlet for passing along information became the Princetonian newspaper, which began running a section called “Bulletin Elm” in 1885.

There is a famous face in this photo: James Johnson, who escaped slavery in the 1830s and stood trial in Princeton under the Fugitive Slave Act in the 1840s, stands behind a wheelbarrow toward the right.

Historical Photograph Collection, Grounds and Buildings Series (AC111), Box MP07, Image No. 159.

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Fritz (no last name recorded), a janitor in Laughlin Hall, 1931. 

According to mid-20th century policies, Princeton University’s janitors worked seven days per week. They were required to turn out the lights in dormitories every night and make the beds every morning, and had a standard work week of 57 hours. In the 1930s, students began debating the fairness of making their own beds to provide some relief for these workers. Janitors unionized in 1942, demanding higher pay and fewer hours, including one full day off per week.

Historical Photograph Collection, Individuals Series (AC067), Box 1.

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Throwback Thursday: Princeton University Department of Biology staff meeting, ca. 1948. That’s quite a coffee pot!

Historical Subject Files (AC109), Box 259, Folder 6

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In October 1983, Princeton’s Director of the Center for Visitor and Conference Services, Bill O’Brien, received a call from his section chief in the Army Reserves warning him that he would be put on active duty within weeks. The United States invaded Grenada on October 25, 1983 after a military coup removed the island's leadership. The U.S. invasion drew international condemnation, but most Americans supported it. O'Brien's duties included the distribution of aid to civilians and helping to restore their tourism industry. O'Brien thought it was important that their flag be restored, so he joined with others to canvas the island for the original flag to use as a model to construct others. In the photo above, O'Brien showed the flag to Jacquelyn Kneen, a writer for the Princeton Weekly Bulletin. 

Photo by Robert Matthews, 1983, Office of Communications Records (AC168), Box 225.