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Category: Celebrations, Commencements, Reunions, P-rades

  • “The Class of 1923–its deeds and its antics,” 1922-1923

    Among the earliest silent films that were shot on the Princeton campus are those produced and financed by the classes of 1921 to 1939 (see our previous blog). The first true ‘class film’ was titled “The Class of 1923–its deeds and its antics.” A compilation of footage from this film and of the film “Champions…

  • Princeton’s oldest footage: John Grier Hibben’s inauguration and Woodrow Wilson returns to vote

    This post contains the oldest newsreels present in the Princeton University Archives. As discussed in our previous blog, Princeton University started making films in 1919, using the footage for its first promotional film in 1921. For earlier years, however, it was dependent on newsreel companies like Pathé, which filmed newsworthy stories and items of topical…

  • What happened to Princeton’s silent movies?

    Filming of the comedy “Arthur Penrose” in 1923. The Princeton Bric-a-Brac, 1925. It started at Yale On February 19, 1920 the Daily Princetonian announced Yale’s decision to record important campus events on film, to be kept by the classes and used for reunions. By the end of that year, according to the Prince, Princeton’s Class of 1921…

  • Coeduation in Princeton: it started at the Graduate School

    In September 1969, more than two years after President Goheen asked former Woodrow Wilson director Gardner Patterson to investigate the introduction of coeducation, Princeton welcomed its first undergraduate women to campus. Within the Ivy League Princeton was relatively late: while Yale made the move at the same time, only Dartmouth (1972) and Columbia (1983) went…

  • President Johnson addresses Vietnam in Princeton, 1966

    President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Princeton University on May 11, 1966 to dedicate the new Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs building and receive an honorary degree. The new building had been made possible by a $35 million gift that was anonymous at the time, but later revealed to be from Charles S.…

  • Keeping the donor base informed: Princeton newsreels, 1960-1961

    During the $53 Million Campaign (1959-1962) a 13 x 10 foot scale model of the Princeton campus  toured 19 major cities and displayed at meetings of the regional leaders of the fund drive. To keep Princeton alumni further informed about progress and developments on campus, the Alumni Council sponsored two “Princeton Newsreels” in 1960 and…

  • Celebrating Princeton’s 250th anniversary

    On October 25, 1996 Princeton University celebrated the 250th anniversary of the granting of its original charter as the College of New Jersey. Featured here is a recording of the Charter Day convocation on the steps of Nassau Hall. Speakers include Princeton President Harold Shapiro (3:46, 27:38), Neil Rudenstine ’56, former Princeton provost and then…

  • Past, present and future US presidents at Princeton’s bicentennial, 1947

    Princeton University celebrated its 200th anniversary with a year-long series of events, starting on September 22, 1946 and ending with a convocation on June 14-17, 1947. The newsreel posted here was shot during the conclusion of the bicentennial celebrations on June 17th, when thirty-six notables received honorary degrees, including US President Harry Truman, who gave…

  • Lights, Camera, Action!

    The Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library has launched a new blog dedicated to its audiovisual holdings. Through it, we will announce items that we have posted on Princeton University’s two YouTube Channels.  We encourage viewers to post comments that will contribute to our knowledge and understanding of these materials. In conjunction with the Library’s Preservation Office…