Tag Archives: Abraham Lincoln

This Week in Princeton History for February 21-27

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series, Abraham Lincoln disappoints students, the chief of staff for the Black Panthers speaks in Dillon Gym, and more.

February 21, 1861—Students who have waited for him are disappointed when Abraham Lincoln does not stop at Princeton’s train station between speaking from the train in New Brunswick and attending a reception in Trenton, Newark’s Centinel of Freedom will later report.

February 24, 1891—At the National Council of Women of the United States meeting in Washington, Annie Nathan Meyer, founder of Barnard College, criticizes Evelyn College, saying Evelyn is not holding women to the same standards as men. “Not only is the Evelyn degree given for less than is demanded by Princeton, but of the students that attend Evelyn twenty-five are special students; and only seven are regular students, working for the Evelyn degree.”

Diploma from Evelyn College, 1892, which awards a degree to Josephine Reade Curtis for having “completed the Special course of Study at Evelyn College” and having “passed in a satisfactory manner examinations corresponding to those of Princeton College upon the studies pursued.” (Click to enlarge.) Historical Subject Files (AC109), Box 434.

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This Week in Princeton History for November 1-7

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series, some alumni are not pleased that students are cross-dressing for the theater, Abraham Lincoln is the most popular candidate for president on campus, and more.

November 1, 1798—Using the “ride and tie” method and sharing one horse, Jacob Lindley and James Carnahan arrive in Princeton to begin their studies, having covered 35-40 miles per day alternately walking and riding five to ten miles each through the mountains from southwestern Pennsylvania.

November 3, 1980—Peter Chin ’81, Jacques Duranceau ’81, and Brett Hudelson ’83 take first place in team kumite at the National Karate Championships.

November 4, 1908—The Princeton Alumni Weekly writes disapprovingly of male students in Triangle Club cross-dressing to play female parts: “Certainly it does not leave with the audience an impression of that manly quality they like to ascribe to our students, a quality developed by sound minds and sound bodies.”

Richard Sanders Barbee ’07 as “Vivian Dasher” in Triangle Club’s “The Mummy Monarch,” ca. 1907. Photo from 1909 Bric-a-Brac.

November 6, 1860—Students hold their own mock election for president in Nassau Hall, although most cannot vote legally due to age and residency requirements. Abraham Lincoln of the generally antislavery Republican party receives the plurality of the votes, but not a majority. The results are as follows:

  • Abraham Lincoln (Republican)—90
  • John Bell (Constitutional Union)—75
  • John Breckinridge (Southern Democratic)—75
  • Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democratic)—9

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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This Week in Princeton History for April 18-24

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In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the campus mourns Abraham Lincoln, Fidel Castro pays a visit, and more.

April 19, 1865—Someone etches “We Mourn Our Loss” into a window on the third floor of Nassau Hall in reference to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. (More on campus reaction to Lincoln’s death here.)

Scrapbook ribbon

Ribbon found in the college scrapbook of Edward Wilder Haines, Class of 1866. Scrapbook Collection (AC026), Box 16.

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This Week in Princeton History for December 21-27

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In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, a veteran-athlete is killed, Abraham Lincoln writes a thank you note, and more.

December 21, 1918—With orders home in his pocket, celebrated athlete Hobey Baker  ’14 crashes in France while testing a repaired plane, sustaining fatal injuries.

BakerPlaneCrash_AC005_Box_5_Folder_7_Img_No_21828

Hobey Baker’s crashed plane. John D. Davies Collection on Hobey Baker (AC005), Box 5, Folder 7, Image No. 21828.

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Princeton Mourns Lincoln

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Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. exactly 150 years ago. As Americans did throughout the country, Princetonians immediately went into mourning. The loss was more profound given that the nation had emerged from a devastating Civil War less than a week before.

Princeton’s ties to Lincoln are reflected in various collections in Princeton University Library’s Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. On his train trip to his inauguration in 1861, Lincoln made many stops in the Midwest and Northeast, where he often spoke to crowds. On February 21, more than 20,000 supporters received him in Trenton. William Stewart Cross Webster and Alexander Taggart McGill, Jr., both of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) Class of 1864, were among the throngs. In a letter to his mother a few days later, Webster expressed disappointment that he was unable to hear Lincoln over the roar of the crowd: “This was our sight of Abraham Lincoln: We saw great Lincoln plain; it can never be forgotten, the bowing very graciously right and left. In a few minutes Mr. L. appeared on the platform and said a few words. His manner was pleasant and a vein of humor pervaded his whole face. I was unlucky enough to hear nothing he said.” (Undergraduate Alumni Records 1748-1920 (AC104), Box 125)

Shortly after his reelection in 1864, the Board of Trustees voted to confer an honorary Doctorate of Law upon Lincoln. Lincoln was unable to attend Princeton’s Commencement, but wrote to College President John Maclean to thank Princeton for its honor “in this time of public trial.”

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“Your True Friend and Enemy”: Princeton and the Civil War

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Civil War exhibition reveals sectional fissures within college and town.

Students playing cards c. 1859 Historical Photograph Collection: Campus Life, LP80, Image 6020

“Your True Friend and Enemy”: Princeton and the Civil War, a new exhibition at Princeton University’s Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, examines life at the college and within the town of Princeton against the backdrop of the War Between the States. Through the eyes of students, faculty, and townspeople—including women and African Americans—the exhibition provides a local view of this watershed event in American history. It opens on September 17, 2012, the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, after which President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

“Each case features something related to Abraham Lincoln,” said Dan Linke, the head of the Mudd Manuscript Library and one of the four exhibition curators. “We have student accounts of his pre-inaugural speech in Trenton and then his funeral train, as well as an alumnus soldier’s diary noting the assassination. Perhaps the most significant item is the three-page handwritten letter sent by Lincoln to the college president accepting an honorary degree. It is one of the University’s treasured possessions and what a former dean called ‘among the title deeds to our Americanism.’”

Letters and documents drawn from the University Archives at the Mudd Manuscript Library and from other units of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, as well as the Historical Society of Princeton, demonstrate how sectional differences affected student life and how the bonds of friendship transcended the national conflict. The exhibition also illuminates how Princetonians and the university have commemorated the war and preserved the memory of fallen student and alumni soldiers.

Mudd Library staff members Christie Lutz, Brenda Tindal, and Kristen Turner also curated the exhibition. “This exhibit shows how both local communities—the College of New Jersey and Princeton—grappled with the impact of the Civil War and responded to the crisis in a variety of ways.” said Turner. “The story is more nuanced and complicated than you may remember from your history books.”

“Your True Friend and Enemy”: Princeton and the Civil War is free and open to the public in the Wiess Lounge at the Mudd Manuscript Library, 65 Olden Street, until June 1, 2013. The exhibition is open from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday. An open house will be held at Mudd Library from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday, October 20, 2012. A behind-the-scenes tour will start at 10:30 a.m.

For more information, call 609-258-6345 or email mudd@princeton.edu.