Tag Archives: Nassau Hall

This Week in Princeton History for December 26-January 1

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series, immigrants are required to be fingerprinted, faculty are investigating mysterious explosions, and more.

December 26, 1940—Under the recently passed federal law known as the Alien Registration Act, all local non-citizens must complete registration with the Princeton post office by this date. All will fill out five forms detailing age, place of birth, date of entry into the United States, local residency, and other matters related to their lives and character. They will also be fingerprinted.

December 27, 1813—Another in a series of explosions of gunpowder takes place in a room in the lower entry of Nassau Hall. Faculty commit to uncover the culprit, whom they will later identify as Gunning B. Read, Class of 1816.

Reprint of a sketch entitled “Taking the Measure of Nassau Hall” from the student notebook of Thomas Campbell, Class of 1818. Grounds and Buildings Historical Subject Files (AC110), Box 7, Folder 10.

December 29, 1849—The New Orleans Daily Crescent warns of a con man traveling around the South claiming to be a student at Princeton, and warns parents of Princeton students not to give him money to take to their sons.

December 30, 1912—George A. Armstrong, Class of 1909, issues a general invitation to all Princeton students to attend a reception at Christodora Settlement House in New York.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

Fact check: We always strive for accuracy, but if you believe you see an error, please contact us.

This Week in Princeton History for January 24-30

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series, an alum urges Americans to put the Civil War behind them in order to defeat a new mutual enemy, the local newspaper advocates scrapbooking, and more.

January 24, 1817—The New York Commercial Advertiser reports that students at Princeton “are in a state of revolt.”

January 25, 1764—Around this date, the Pennsylvania Gazette reports that a fire has damaged Nassau Hall.

January 26, 1889—Students and others gather at a Temperance meeting at the town’s Second Presbyterian Church, where Alfred H. Colquitt, Class of 1844, now a senator from Georgia, warns that Americans must band together against liquor sales. “The Rebellion is over but a new war is upon us. No foreign enemy, but an enemy at home. Let the North and South unite and with combined strength overthrow this threatening evil.”

January 27, 1860—The Princeton Press encourages local residents to take up scrapbooking, and suggests they paste its own articles in their books.

Student scrapbooks do have plenty of newspaper clippings, local and otherwise, but often also a wealth of other contextual information. In this scrapbook made by Benjamin S. Morehouse, Class of 1862, we find an artifact not mentioned in the newspaper article he pasted in its pages, along with this note: “This ‘Golden Circle’ was one of a large no. tacked upon the trees in Princeton by some persons unknown during the night following the troubles mentioned in a preceding article in this scrapbook, ‘Treason Punished in Princeton College’ dated Sept. 16, [18]61. I took it down from a tree. The design thereof did not appear. Whether it is a sign of the ‘Golden Circle’ or not, I do not know. There was much excitement in the place during the few days mentioned in the article.” (The Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret society that formed in 1854 with an aim to establish a new country where slavery would be legal. During the Civil War, some northerners sympathetic to the Confederacy were part of the group.) Scrapbook Collection (AC026), Box 11.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

Fact check: We always strive for accuracy, but if you believe you see an error, please contact us.

This Week in Princeton History for December 27-January 2

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series, a Hoboken woman endows a professorship in mathematics, Congress faces criticism for tariffs on books imported for higher education, and more.

December 29, 1823—The Trenton Federalist expresses shock that any newspaper “should publish such extravagant reports as are stated in some of the Philadelphia papers respecting the disorders which have occurred among the students at Princeton.”

December 31, 1869—Local press reports that Martha Bayard Stevens has endowed the Albert Baldwin Dod Professorship of Mathematics at Princeton. Stevens, a widowed philanthropist from Hoboken, is Dod’s eldest child.

Martha Bayard Stevens. Portrait courtesy Stevens Institute of Technology.

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This Week in Princeton History for August 23-29

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series, dog-powered butter churns are available locally, Princeton University celebrates an alum’s achievement in a new way, and more.

August 23, 2011—Princeton University’s website announces a ban on freshman rush for Greek organizations.

August 27, 1835—James Petrie and Donald McCay invite interested residents of Princeton to order dog-powered butter churns from them.

August 28, 1861—A group of students and local residents gather to pay their respects to Major-General David Hunter, who is on his way to Illinois and still recovering from injuries sustained at the First Battle of Bull Run. The crowd sings the national anthem to him.

August 29, 1965—The flag of Princeton University is raised atop Nassau Hall at 10:00AM in honor of Charles “Pete” Conrad, Jr.’s safe return to the planet after the Gemini 5 mission. Princeton’s flag is rarely flown. Other occasions when one might see a flag atop Nassau Hall are Commencement, or at half-staff upon the death of a faculty member and the annual memorial of deceased alumni.

When Charles “Pete” Conrad ’53 made it to the moon, he had this Princeton flag with him. Memorabilia Collection (AC053).

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

Fact check: We always strive for accuracy, but if you believe you see an error, please contact us.

Dear Mr. Mudd: Why Do You Have a Piece of a Railroad Track in the Library?

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Dear Mr. Mudd,

Why do you have a “cross section of railroad” in your Memorabilia Collection (AC053)?

 

In 1855, for the second time in its near-century of existence, Nassau Hall suffered a devastating fire. At the time, Nassau Hall still served in part as one of Princeton’s dormitories. An undergraduate had gone to Maclean House and a burning log fell out of a stove in his room. As the structure ignited, flames lit up the sky for miles around. The interior of the building was almost entirely destroyed, with even the college bell, which had survived the 1802 fire, left in pieces among the ruins. Fortunately for those of us interested in documenting the institution’s history, faculty and students rushed papers, artwork, and other valuable property to safety before the flames fully engulfed the building. Aside from one student who fell and broke his leg, no one was hurt.

F. Childs lithograph of Nassau Hall, ca. 1860. Nassau Hall Iconography Collection (AC177), Box 1.

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This Week in Princeton History for July 19-25

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, local stations “dim out” to help the state prepare for nuclear attack, the Board of Trustees decides on building materials for Nassau Hall, and more.

July 19, 1875—Maine’s Portland Daily Press reassures spectators of the Saratoga boat race that George D. Parmly of the Princeton crew does not have epilepsy, but just fainted from exhaustion and sleep deprivation.

July 20, 1956—The local regular radio and television stations pause for a “dim-out” as part of “Operation Alert 1956” by the New Jersey Civil Defense. The only broadcasts will be on civil defense wavelengths. This communications test is part of the state’s preparations for the possibility of nuclear attack.

July 22, 1754—The Board of Trustees vote that “the College be built of Brick if good Brick can be made at Princeton & if Sand can be got reasonably cheap.” Ultimately, Nassau Hall will be made of stone.

Nassau Hall as it appeared in New American Magazine, March 1760. Local quarries supplied stone for many of Princeton’s buildings over the centuries. Nassau Hall was built of local sandstone. Nassau Hall Iconography Collection (AC177), Box 1.

July 23, 1825—Students attend a meeting of the New Jersey Colonization Society.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

Fact check: We always strive for accuracy, but if you believe you see an error, please contact us.

This Week in Princeton History for March 15-21

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, 100 Princetonians picket a local bank for ties to apartheid, an unexpected loss of housing causes financial stress, and more.

March 16, 1816—A trunk is discovered open on the lawn of Nassau Hall with $3,000 stolen from it (about $46,000 in 2020 dollars, adjusted for inflation). The trunk belongs to a traveler on his way to New York who was robbed at the local Rowley’s Inn.

March 17, 1977—More than 100 students picket the Princeton Bank and Trust on Nassau Street for more than 90 minutes to demand an end to sales of Krugerrand, a South African gold coin. Sales of the coin help support apartheid, and students want to raise awareness of such entanglements locally, beyond the university’s investments. Emery Witt, a pharmacist next door, is frustrated that the picketing seems to be hurting his own business, but says he is pleased that students are expressing themselves.

Princeton University students picket Princeton Bank and Trust, March 17, 1977. Photo from the Daily Princetonian.

March 18, 1997—Ashley Stevenson ’99 and Dan Morris ’98 marry each other at a Spring Break wedding in Salt Lake City, Utah.

March 20, 1843—Charles Godfrey Leland writes to his father to ask for money to cover his expenses after he has unexpectedly lost his room in town and none are available on campus:

The next and greatest question is, what shall I do next session for board—the only way to get a room in College is to take a room and buy the furniture, for every room in College is now occupied and will be still more so next session. Fonte, however, intends going out of College and will give his room (one of the very best) to any one who will buy his furniture (which, with the exception of the carpet, is the same that George Boker had)—for 30 or 40 dollars—which is very cheap. I have promised him I would let him know by the end of this week whether I would take his room or not.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

Fact check: We always strive for accuracy, but if you believe you see an error, please contact us.

This Week in Princeton History for March 8-14

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, many feel the CPUC’s response to homophobic violence is unsatisfactory, a graduate student vows to sue the town for his disenfranchisement, and more.

March 8, 1802—The Philadelphia Gazette reports that, due to a recent fire in Nassau Hall, classes at Princeton will be suspended until next May or June.

March 9, 1976—Students are not satisfied with the compromise measure passed by the Council on the Princeton University Community that calls for an affirmation of university policies of non-discrimination and protection of freedom of expression but does not address suppression of free expression through violence or affirm non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The CPUC’s action is taken in response to recent targeted acts against the Gay Alliance of Princeton.

Prospect, an alumni magazine dedicated to repudiating Princeton’s late-20th century transformation into a more inclusive community, covered the controversy over the Gay Alliance of Princeton in its March 15, 1976 issue.

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Dear Mr. Mudd: Did Enslaved People Live in Princeton’s Dormitories?

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This post is the first in a two-part series.

 

Dear Mr. Mudd,

Rumor has it the dorms at Princeton were designed to allow students to bring enslaved people with them to live in adjoining rooms and serve them. Is this true?

 

Though one often hears a rumor about enslaved people accompanying students to campus and living in dorms with them, there is quite a bit of evidence that this could not have taken place, and we have never found any evidence that indicates that it did. Indeed, as is detailed below, any building currently used as a dormitory was constructed after slavery was illegal in the United States. The rumor’s persistence despite this probably reflects the legacy of the social hierarchies of prior generations of Princetonians. In this first of a two-part answer, I will outline the evidence for why this is not factually correct. Next week, I will provide more context for the emotional truth about histories of oppression on campus held within this myth.

There were enslaved people present on Princeton’s campus; this is well-established and interested researchers can find a wealth of information on the Princeton and Slavery website. Nonetheless, the only enslaved people known to live on campus lived in the President’s house, not in student dormitories, and were legally considered the private property of the institution’s presidents. Slavery was not fully outlawed in New Jersey until the Civil War, and Princeton itself was friendly to Southern ideas about race, enrolling many students from slaveholding families. There was also a need for what was then termed “servants” and what we know today as staff in a wide range of roles who provide meals and maintain and clean campus buildings. However, the individual students would not have brought enslaved persons with them, and having personal attendants living alongside them was prohibited.

It was the role of the Steward to ensure adequate staffing in service roles on campus, as Jonathan Baldwin’s contract spelled out in 1768, and students paid a fee for the college servants to make their beds and sweep their rooms unless they agreed to handle these matters themselves. Meanwhile, outside this specific service provided to them in their housing contracts, students were required to clean their own rooms and shoes. The Board of Trustees formally approved this rule in 1757, at their first meeting ever held in Nassau Hall, the first building that functioned as a dormitory as well as a chapel, library, refectory, and recitation hall.

Image of Nassau Hall, 1764. Nassau Hall Iconography Collection (AC177), Box 1.

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This Week in Princeton History for October 5-11

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In this week’s installment of our recurring series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, women gather to discuss sexism on campus, a new kind of roof is being installed for Nassau Hall, and more.

October 5, 1978—Female students and staff hold an exclusive meeting to discuss sexism on campus. Barring men from the meeting is controversial, but the women say this is necessary, “because a lot of women feel uncomfortable saying things in front of men that they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable saying in front of women.” At the meeting, women complain about inadequate medical care, discriminatory employment practices, and professors who penalize female students for refusing their sexual advances.

Marsha Rosenthal ’76 collected a variety of material on women’s issues while she was a student at Princeton University. This pamphlet, published by Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood in 1973, is among the reading material apparently available to Princetonians in the 1970s and is evidence of the concerns of the community.  Marsha Rosenthal Course Materials and Student Activism Materials (AC409), Box 2.

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