In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, Ethel Barrymore is on campus, undergraduates head to Washington to celebrate a presidential inauguration, and more.

March 1, 1969—The new Jadwin Gym is dedicated at a Harvard-Yale-Princeton track meet.

March 2, 1931—Ethel Barrymore appears in the opening of “Love Duel” at McCarter Theater.

Ethel Barrymore, ca. 1931. Photo from the Daily Princetonian.

March 4, 1897—Princeton sends a delegation of students to Washington for William McKinley’s inauguration as president of the United States.

William McKinley badge, 1897. Supporters pinned these badges to their clothes, which depict McKinley on top of a golden box reading “OUR STANDARD” because McKinley campaigned on the gold standard. Princeton University Library Records (AC123), Box 406.

March 5, 1912—Princeton University Registrar Charles H. Jones decides to fire his office assistant, on the basis that “he had but one virtue, that of punctuality,” but “this virtue in time became the most loathsome of vices, for I would that he had never been on the job.”

Charles H. Jones to Charles W. McAlpin, March 5, 1912. Office of the Secretary Records (AC190), Box 41, Folder 5.

For last week’s installment in this series, click here.

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