Princeton University

Celebrating 250 Years of Excellence

Long before people had even considered placing flags in outer space, Princeton University was placing graduates into the world. Consider the fact that the United States is only 220 years old itself, and Princeton University’s 250th anniversary is certainly something for the University and the town of Princeton to be proud of–and something to celebrate, which is exactly what the University is doing. The governor of New Jersey signed a charter 250 years ago that empowered seven founding trustees to establish the College of New Jersey as British North America’s fourth college. First located in Elizabeth, then in Newark, the College moved to Princeton in 1756. It was housed in Nassau Hall, which contained the entire college for nearly half a century, and it was officially renamed Princeton University in 1896.

This anniversary’s festivities begin on Alumni Day, Feb. 23, and conclude with Reunions 1997. The campus-based celebrations include a collection of essays to be presented as public lectures. The lecture series will include lectures that are “not designed to present the history of Princeton chronologically but instead look at major aspects and themes of Princeton’s history,” said Robert Durkee ’69, vice-president for public affairs. The anniversary lecture series, with lectures scheduled throughout the year, is, according to Burt Malkiel, chairman of the 250th anniversary steering committee, intended to “refresh our collective memory about the very special people and events at Princeton in the past 250 years.”

Additionally, a “coffee table” book is currently for sale in bookstores by journalist, author, and Class of 1952 graduate Donald Oberdorfer, as is a calendar featuring archival photos, historical anecdotes, and important dates during the 250th Anniversary celebration. An oral history will be collected of selected faculty, administrators, trustees, alumni and staff members; exhibitions from the archives and graphic arts collections will be presented in a show with a at the Art Museum. The Music Department and the chapel plan concert programs with repertoires that range from classical to jazz to a capella. Historical architectural tours will be offered; and a computer-based interactive graphics tour of the campus as it looked at different points in time throughout the University’s history. According to Dorothy Bedford, Executive Director of the 250th anniversary celebration, these projects are intended to refresh our collective memory about the special people, events, and developments at Princeton University since 1746, and the context in which they occurred.

The university also has worked hard for permission from the U.S. Postal Service to issue either a postal stamp or a pre-stamped postcard. While the request for a stamp was denied, the request for the pre-stamped 23-cent postcard, which features a rendition of Alexander Hall, was approved. “The rules for selecting subjects of commemorative issues are very stringent,” Bedford said. The Postal Service requires that the subject be a historical building and a member of the Historic Building Series. According to Robin Wright, spokesman for the United States Postal Service, 44,000 requests are made each year for stamps and postcards, though less than 50 are approved.

The 1996-97 festivities, including a lecture series, continue a venerable tradition of celebrating the University’s great birthdays. Princeton’s Centennial attracted attendees who, according to the Centennial Committee, “for beauty, intellect, and respectability could scarcely be surpassed.” An oration by James Alexander, Class of 1820, lasted over two hours, during which the audience sat in rapt attention.” The Sesquicentennial, in 1896, was notable as the occasion on which the College of New Jersey became named Princeton University, and Professor Woodrow Wilson gave a speech he titled “Princeton in the Nation’s Service.” U.S. President Grover Cleveland attended the ceremonies, just as it is hoped that President Bill Clinton will attend this year’s celebration. The Bicentennial was celebrated during the academic year 1946-47 with numerous convocations; among distinguished visitors to campus were generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Marshall, poet T.S. Eliot and President Harry Truman.

The University has quite a bit in store to celebrate its Bicenquinquagennial (also known as the “250th” to save our tongues). Ms. Bedford says that many projects and programs are “intended to refresh our collective memory about people, events and developments at Princeton since 1746.” While the 250th anniversary celebration has inevitably ushered in a wave of nostalgia, Malkiel said he hopes that the celebrations will also provide an opportunity to draw “a roadmap of where we’re going. Doing a celebration like this is not just to pat us on the back, but rather to indicate the direction of where things are going in the future.” Specifically, he mentioned the possibility of a Center for Public and Community Service.

One of the main projects planned as a part of the Center for Public and Community Service is a public service project intended to reinforce Princeton’s tradition of devotion to community service that reaches back prior to Woodrow Wilson’s speech at the Sesquicentennial. In his “Princeton in the Nation’s Service” speech, on the occasion of the University’s 150th anniversary, Wilson spoke of the University founders’ intent by calling for Princeton to communicate to each of its students a “sense of duty” towards all of humankind.

The project, called “Pathways to Princeton”, is an introduction to the resources of Princeton University for fourth grade students. A teacher’s kit will be distributed to all elementary schools in Mercer County as well as in Montgomery Township and South Brunswick, but any interested school will be granted access to the program upon request. The program, which will be updated yearly and will be an ongoing community service project long after the 250th anniversary has come and gone, is designed to give children a welcome to the university with the hope that they will visit the campus, and perhaps may come to Princeton as students.

Another major project planned for the University’s anniversary is a film commemorating Princeton’s 250th anniversary. The film is being shot on campus over the next several months and will be shown at various campus events during Charter Weekend in October. It will also most likely be shown at Princeton’s movie theater, the Garden Theater, over that weekend. Some of the scenes that have already been filmed depict student pranks from the 18th and 19th centuries. Filmmaker Gerardo Puglia, husband of Italian studies professor Gaetana Marrone-Puglia, re-inacted a 19th century gag in which the students filled the prayer hall, now the faculty room of Nassau Hall, with barnyard animals in time for morning prayer. A donkey and a horse were paraded into the building for the shoot. According to Bedford, these scenes recreated some of the students’ “most nefarious incidents.”

The film, which depicts a time when the entire university - including living quarters, classrooms and offices - was housed in Nassau Hall, also portrays a scene with students performing their annual prank of blowing up charges of gunpowder in its front hall to annoy their instructors and classmates. One year, the students filled an entire log with gunpowder and set it off, blowing the front doors off their hinges and cracking the lintel above the door. The film used a smoke machine to recreate this prank. The film crew also taped a group of soldiers, dressed in Revolutionary War garb, marching in front of Nassau Hall. The actors, dressed as the New Jersey first regiment, were portraying one of the original regiments that participated in the Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton. “The effort is to try and capture what has remained special about Princeton over a long period of time,” Bedford said.

The full-length documentary, which will cost the university over $100,000 to make, will look not only into Princeton’s past, but will also examine its present through interviews with faculty, President Harold Shapiro and former presidents Robert Goheen ’40 and William Bowen ’58. Of course, the University could not ignore the town of Princeton itself in its celebrations–after all, the town and gown have gone hand in hand ever since Nassau Hall was built on land donated by Princeton locals Nathaniel and Rebeckah FitzRandolph (The picture accompanying this story is of FitzRandolph Gate). Various state and local tie-in events are planned. The Princeton Historical Society’s themes for spring exhibits being considered over the next few years include “Family Traditions”, “Community Traditions”, and “Academic Traditions”; a Community Advisory Committee is being formed to assist in the development of civic activities; New Jersey Network has expressed interest in putting appropriate academic and celebratory events on the air; and several in-state museums, including the State Museum in Trenton, the Newark Museum of Art, and the Belcher Mansion in Elizabeth, are displaying special exhibits about Princeton.