In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, President Taft is visiting, fire ravages the campus, and more.

May 11, 1912—U.S. President William Howard Taft is the guest of John Grier Hibben at Prospect House on campus, having come to celebrate Hibben’s inauguration as president of Princeton University. (Video here.)

William Howard Taft at Prospect House. Historical Photograph Collection, Individuals Series (AC067), Box LP1.

May 12, 1982—Talk radio host and sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer speaks to an overflow crowd at the Woodrow Wilson School.

This wasn’t Dr. Ruth’s only lecture at Princeton. A later campus visit (February 1986) is shown here on a page from a photo album in the Eating Clubs Records (AC019), Box 26.

May 13, 1990—Over 100 students wearing black armbands begin a 24-hour fast. The event, sponsored by Princeton Students for Chinese Democracy, commemorates the first anniversary of the hunger strike that resulted in the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

May 14, 1920—Fire destroys Marquand Chapel and Dickinson Hall.

Fire at Marquand Chapel, 1920. Historical Photograph Collection, Grounds and Buildings Series (AC111), Box MP29, Image No. 696.

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

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