Student working on the undergraduate yearbook, the Bric-a-Brac, circa 1990s.
The Bric-a-Brac first appeared in 1876. According to Alexander Leitch in A Princeton Companion, the founding editors hoped their “compact and comprehensive summary of every feature of the college” would help fill the gap left by the college catalogue, which, they felt, did not sufficiently represent the interests of undergraduates.
One Bric editor, Mahlon Pitney ‘1879, became a supreme court justice. Several became college presidents: John Grier Hibben ‘1882 (Princeton), Robert C. Clothier ‘08 (Rutgers), Henry P. Van Dusen ‘19 (Union Theological Seminary), Paul Havens ‘25 (Wilson). A few became writers, editors, or publishers: Booth Tarkington ‘1893, Ernest Poole ‘02, Maxwell Struthers Burt ‘04, Peter Schwed ‘32, Donald Clive Stuart, Jr. ‘35, and Andrew Turnbull ‘42.
Photo courtesy of Princeton University Archives.