September 2008 Archives

Princeton’s newest building, Sherrerd Hall, reflects its surrounding environment.

“It has an ethereal quality that connects it to its environment,” said Fred Fisher, principal of Frederick Fisher and Partners, the award-winning Los Angeles firm that designed the building. “Glass reflects the environment and opens a building to the world. It connects what goes on inside the building to the campus and community outside.”

Sherrerd Hall, home to the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering and the Center for Information Technology Policy, was named for the late John J. F. Sherrerd ‘52, a former trustee, volunteer leader, and longtime supporter of the University.

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Photo: Brian Wilson

The first Dickinson Hall, named for Princeton’s first president, stood where Firestone Plaza is today. Dedicated in 1869, it was the first academic building erected under the leadership of President McCosh and the first structure at Princeton given entirely to classrooms and lecture space.

The interior, one student recalled, was “a maze of corridors and staircases, with a thoroughly unfathomable numbering system.” Room 21, lined by busts of great thinkers, was known as the “Hall of Horrors,” because it served as the primary location for midterm and final exams. Dickinson Hall burned to the ground in May of 1920.

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Photo courtesy of Princeton University Archives.

Marquand Chapel, dedicated on June 18, 1882, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt. A renowned example of the Romanesque Revival style, it was the gift of Henry G. Marquand, father of Allan Marquand, Class of 1874, who became the University’s first professor of art and archaeology in 1882.

Marquand Chapel stood on the site of the present University Chapel until it was destroyed by fire in May 1920. The fire, which also destroyed the old Dickinson Hall, was contained by the efforts of volunteer firemen and an engine company from Trenton, aided by students in evening clothes who came over to help from house parties at the clubs and a freshman dance in the gym.

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Photo courtesy of Princeton University Archives.

Fall semester classes began Thursday, September 11. Here new members of the class of 2012 gather in front of Blair Arch after Opening Exercises.

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Photo: Andrea Kane

Computerized course registration wasn’t even a dream for those who filled out their registration forms by hand in the 1950s.

Students today have it easy, as the first day of class registration begins for the Fall 2008 semester on SCORE (Student Course Online Registration Engine).

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Photo courtesy of Princeton University Archives.