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General Manuscripts Collection
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Held at: Princeton University Library: University Archives [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: University Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The General Manuscripts Collection consists of individual manuscripts and small collections of papers and records which are related in some way to the history, students, and alumni of Princeton University. The vast majority of the documents in the General Manuscripts collection were produced by alumni, although there are several exceptions such as trustees or other members of the University community.
Notes within the contents list provide further details on the contents of individual folders.
The manuscripts and collections which comprise the General Manuscripts Collection have all been cataloged individually, and are searchable through the Princeton University Library's online catalog . The information presented in this finding aid duplicates that found in the online catalog records.
Additions are made to the General Manuscripts Collection when materials which fit the scope of the collection are accessioned by the Library.
The documents which comprise the General Manuscripts Collection have been collected by the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library over a span of several years, primarily beginning in the 1990s. Whenever possible, accession numbers have been included with folder descriptions.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Mudd Library Staff. Finding aid written by Daniel Brennan in March 2009. Finding aid updated by Phoebe Nobles in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
No information on appraisal is available.
- Publisher
- University Archives
- Finding Aid Author
- Daniel Brennan
- Finding Aid Date
- 2009
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. The Trustees of Princeton University hold copyright to all materials generated by Princeton University employees in the course of their work. For instances beyond Fair Use, if copyright is held by Princeton University, researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of materials from the Princeton University Archives.
For instances beyond Fair Use where the copyright is not held by the University, while permission from the Library is not required, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
Speech given by C.H. Andrews titled "On National Ingratitude" at Nassau Hall on February 18, 1820 on the topic of a lack of gratitude for the country's veterans.
Physical Description1 box
The Athletic Association is the organization which oversees the administration of Princeton University's athletic programs.
Consists of one letter containing an invitation for participation in the spring sports of the Philadelphia Fencing and Sparring Club/
Physical Description1 folder
Lafayette Butler was a member of the Princeton Class of 1908.
Contains copies of The Eagle, a campus newsletter written by Lafayette Butler, Class of 1908.
Physical Description2 folders
James Campbell Davis was a member of the Princeton University Class of 1849
One letter from James Campbell Davis to David B. Smith concerning the upcoming Presidential election of 1848 and other current affairs.
Physical Description1 folder
(Correspondence between Thomas H. English, Class of 1918 and English Professor Morris H. Croll, as well as papers regarding the posthumous printing of Croll's work.)
Physical Description1 folder
Wilson Farrand was an active trustee of Princeton University during the early part 20th century.
Consists of typed reminiscences of Princeton University trustee Wilson Farrand describing the dispute between then-president Woodrow Wilson and Andrew Fleming West regarding the location of the proposed graduate school. Also included is a retelling of Senator James Smith, Jr.'s nomination of Woodrow Wilson for the office of governor of New Jersey in 1910.
Physical Description1 folder
Carole Grayson was a member of the Princeton University Class of 1974.
Consists of the journal kept by Carole Grayson documenting her experiences as a student teacher at Princeton High School.
Physical Description1 folder
The Hour-Glass Society was a short lived organization at Princeton University's Graduate College dedicated to the discussion of questions of a philosophical, ethical, or religious nature. The Society held regular Sunday evening meetings at which professors or other guest speakers would lecture on a chosen topic. Topics ranged from "the relation of reason to faith" to "what is sin?"
Consists of one book of meeting minutes documenting the organization and activities of the Hour-Glass Society. Mentioned in the entries are the lecture topic of given meetings as well as the speaker and the number of attendees.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of the personal papers and correspondence of James Creese (Class of 1918), primarily dating from his years as a student at Princeton University. Included are academic records, financial records, and correspondence with personal friend Alfred Noyes.
Creese, JamesJames Creese was a member of the Princeton Class of 1918. He went on to become vice-president of Stevens Institute of Technology, and later president of the Drexel Institute of Technology.
Physical Description7 folders
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
(Two Noyes poems, one ALS written for a Cloister Inn book)
Physical Description1 folder
(References to Hamilton Fish Armstrong)
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Benedict Jaeger was a professor of Germanic Languages and Literature.
Insurance policy taken out by Professors John Maclean, Albert Dod, and Joseph Henry on the life of Jaeger for four hundred dollars.
Physical Description1 box
Edward Allen MacMillan was a member of Princeton's Class of 1918. He served in France with the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, and then returned to the campus as the head of Grounds and Buildings. MacMillan Hall was so named in recognition of his service to the University.
Consists of 19 letters written by Edward MacMillan to the Kopp family of Princeton from the front lines in France during World War I. In the letters MacMillan discusses the trials of warfare as well as lighter matters, such as news of fellow Princetonians and regimental baseball games.
Physical Description1 folder
Gilbert MacMillan was a member of the Princeton Class of 1891.
Book of numbered and colored mechanical drawings produced by Gilbert MacMillan while an undergraduate.
Physical Description1 folder
A detailed account of the 1855 fire which consumed Nassau Hall, penned by an unknown eyewitness.
Physical Description1 folder
The Nassau Hall Missionary Society was an organization formed in 1836 by students and faculty of the College of New Jersey for the purpose of collecting donations for foreign missions. The first elected leader of the organization was President James Carnahan, and in its first year the group raised 78 dollars for charity. As the records cease after 1842, the eventual fate of the Nassau Hall Missionary Society is unclear.
Consists of two volumes containing the meeting minutes and the financial accounts of the Nassau Hall Missionary Society.
Physical Description1 folder
Henry Fairfield Osborn was a member of the Princeton class of 1877, one of the earliest graduates of the School of Science. He returned to Princeton in 1883 after graduate study as a professor of comparative anatomy, where he distinguished himself as one of the foremost scholars in biology and paleontology in America. During this time Osborn also assisted in the administration of the college, balancing accounts and reorganizing the athletics program.
Consists of numerous documents relating to the financial accounts of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) at the end of the 19th century. While there are some general reports of the treasurer present in the collection, most of the records directly relate to Henry Fairfield Osborn's efforts to fund the redevelopment of the college's athletic fields and facilities.
Physical Description2 folders
Kenneth R. Perry is a member of the Princeton Class of 1950.
A set of 52 postcards sent by R. Kenneth Perry to Princeton President Harold Shapiro from various towns and locations named Princeton throughout the United States.
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence Between Gerald H. Rosen '55 *59 and Professor John A. Wheeler primarily consisting of letters of thanks from Rosen to Wheeler for having provided him letters of recommendation.
Physical Description1 box
Weld Merrick Stevens and his brother Laurance Stevens were members of the Princeton Class of 1904.
Consists of one journal kept by the family of Weld Merrick and Laurance Stevens '04. The journal, written in many hands, describes weather, social events, outings, and family genealogy.
Physical Description1 folder
Richard Stockton, Class of 1748, served as a trustee of the College from 1757-1781. Stockton was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
The receipt is for the expenses of woodworker Caleb Bruen. He lists charges for paying and boarding his apprentice, a "mantell tree," and a door frame, totaling 3 pounds. It is signed by Stockton and Judge John Berrien, a judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and fellow trustee.
Physical Description1 box
1 box
George W. Van Wagenen was a member of the Princeton Class of 1868.
Consists of a pencil on paper sketch labeled "Our Room - East College" depicting the artist's dorm room and furnishings.
Physical Description1 folder
Theodore H. Von Laue was a member of the Princeton University Graduate School class of 1939. Upon the entrance of the United States into the Second World War, Von Laue began a newsletter for the purpose of distributing news about the activities of his fellow graduate students, particularly those in the Department of History.
Consists of 36 letters and postcards sent to Theodore Von Laue by Princeton graduate students serving in the armed forces during the early years of American involvement in the Second World War, which generally discuss military life and current events. Also included are four issues of Von Laue's informal newsletter, written to keep the history students in the service up to date on each other's locations as well as apprised of emerging trends in the study of history.
Physical Description1 folder
Kenneth R. Perry is a member of the Princeton Class of 1950.
Book, signed by the author, published by Kenneth Perry '1950 documenting road trips he and his wife took to every town in the United States named Princeton. Each stop along the journey includes photographs and historical information about each location.
Physical Description1 box
This folder contains a guest book of signatures for Robert Montgomery Brown's dormitory room, #6 Middle Dod, as well as news clippings, both loose and glued into the guest book, and news photographs of Brown and his room. Robert Montgomery Brown, Class of 1930, attracted press attention for his domestic "Rube Goldberg" contraptions such as the alarm clock that would trigger the mechanics to boil an egg.
Physical Description1 box
Signed by Issac Snowden and Mary Snowden.
Physical Description1 folder
Page two of this newspaper contains a transcript of an oration, "On the rising Glory of America" delivered July 4, 1792 by a student of Princeton College, New Jersey.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
The 2022 donation includes 1950s slides of buildings on campus, two prints of Professor Pascu, and a photograph of a science lab.
The 2011 donation includes late-1940s photographs of students ("lab gang" or "lab bunch, 1948) "who may have been part of the Textile Research Institute, crowds on the Washington Street bridge over Lake Carnegie, photographs of campus grounds and buildings in the late 1940s
The photographs were taken by Robert Wagner *51, a graduate student in chemistry.
Physical Description2 folders
Includes printed material collected by and/or mailed to Henry Clay Cameron, including Princeton Theological Seminary materials, donation certificates to the Witherspoon Memorial Fund, invitations to the 1876 (town of) Princeton Centennial and a Princeton borough voting ticket. Also includes invitations addressed to Reverend A.A. Taylor and A. Guyot Cameron.
Physical Description1 folder
Printed letter soliciting "college recollections" from alumni for a proposed book (never published) about the "college experience." With handwritten notes from Charles Edward Hart, Class of 1858, addressed to Reverend Edward Norris Kirk, D.D., Class of 1820, in Boston.
Physical Description1 item
Includes signatures and subscription amounts pledged by Robert Hunter Morris, Andrew Johnston, John Burnet, Charles Read, John Johnston, James Alexander, William Smith, Joseph Murray, and others.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
"Thereby entitling said Dean West to the proud distinction of being the first alumnus of Princeton University qualified to vote for Alumni Trustees."
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
In thanks to the Alumni Council for sending a copy of Woodrow Wilson's Baccalaureate Address to the Class of 1909.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Four letters written as Governor and President; to Minot Morgan, Charles Scribner, Henry B. Fine, and William B. Moore.
Physical Description1 folder
Ellen Wilson's letter relates to a Woodrow Wilson letter to Henry B. Fine in the previous folder, regarding nomination of Fine as Ambassador to Germany.
Physical Description1 folder
Contains entries from January 27 to April 2, 1910, covering preparations for the trip, the voyage from New York to Sardis, with many stops in European ports, as well as in Alexandria, Egypt, and a week's worth of entries covering time in Sardis. The entries that document work in Sardis run from March 2 to April 2. Although the author of the diary is unnamed, he seems to have had responsibilities for procuring equipment for the expedition. He indicates that his home is in Utica, NY, and that he has an M.S. diploma.
Physical Description1 Volumes
Signed copies of a printed letter originally drafted by Howard Russell Butler, showing support for the country and people of France during World War I. Several Princeton University professors and faculty signers include Archibald A. Gulick (prof. of humanities), Andrew F. West (1st Dean of Princeton Graduate School), and William Phelps Hall (prof. of history), Allan Marquand (prof. of art history), Radcliffe Heermance (Admissions Director) and many others.
Butler, Howard Russell (1856-1934)Howard Russell Butler was an American artist, landscape architect and businessman who was a member of the Princeton University class of 1876. Butler became a physics professor at Princeton and served as the chairman of the "Friends of France in Princeton," an organization dedicated to supporting the country and servicemen of France duirng the first world war.
Physical Description5 folders
Folder includes one campus photograph with Marquand Chapel, Whig Hall and Clio Hall visible; a photograph of Dinky railroad tracks with Little Hall and Blair Arch visible; an April, 1949 photograph of Harold Stassen and Albert Elsasser at the dedication of the Princeton University Library; three photographs of the 1947 Bicentennial Procession; and one photograph by Elizabeth Menzies of the West Stairway of Nassau Hall stairwell, accompanied by a note from Menzies to Elsasser (1956). Albert Elsasser taught in the English Department at Princeton University between 1924 and 1962.
Physical Description1 folder7 photographs
The letter sent from the Army Building in New York concerns a possible delayed visit to Washington, a "nervous attack," the potential marriage of a daughter, and a reference to a game of football at Princeton attended by "Cump" from Yale.
Physical Description1 folder
Titles from the Time / Life Archives: "Princeton Univ. bellmaster Arthur Bigelow testing tone of bell he has designed and built" and "Bell tower at Princeton University."
Physical Description1 folder
This group of snapshots primarily consists of photographs of Ralph B. Yardley '1940 and Yardley Beers *1941 at Princeton commencement ceremonies from 1937 to 1941. Two photos are of the "apparatus" constructed for Yardely Beers' thesis. One, larger photograph was taken at the Princeton Symposium for Physics Professor Rudolf Ladenburg's retirement in 1950. The 1950 photograph includes MacPhail, Yardley Beers, George Wachtell, Daniel Bershader, Luke Yuan, Hans Kopfermann, Curtis Lampson: Fritz Reiche, Lyman Spitzer, Henry Herman Barschall, Rudolf Ladenburg, Hedwig Kohn, Mark Zemansky, and Walker Bleakney. Also included are a few family photographs, circa 1940-1941.
Physical Description1 folder
Fidel Castro's visit took place April 20-21, 1959. The visit was arranged by Roland T. Ely '1946, resident of Princeton and professor of economics at Rutgers University. Castro was scheduled to meet with students and faculty in the Special Program in American Civilization, the meet New Jersey Governor Robert Meyner at Morven, to visit the Lawrenceville School, to meet President Robert Goheen in Nassau Hall, and to attend a luncheon at the Present Day Club with Mr. and Mrs. Roland Ely as hosts.
The documents include correspondence about Castro's visit, both before and after it took place, especially between Roland Ely and those invited to participate in the visit.
One folder contains photographs of the visit. One folder contains a reel-to-reel audio recording labeled only "Castro."
Physical Description3 folders
Color slides, some stereo slides, for the most part photographs of the grounds and buildings of Princeton University. Four photographs are portraits of people, including Walter R. Schare, who may be the photographer for some or many of these slides. A group of non-Princeton slides appears to be of a parade with palm trees in the background.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 folder
Color slides include images of Princeton's campus in snow, Robertson Hall, Nassau Hall, the chapel interior during a service, and others.
Physical Description1 box
This group of negatives--and a few prints--by Alan Richards was found in Mudd Library during a photograph backlog processing project in 2024-2025. Many other photographs by Alan Richards can be found in the University Archives--throughout the Historical Photograph Collections in particular.
Richards, Alan Windsor (1899)Alan Windsor Richards was a freelance photographer known for the images he captured of people and events associated with Princeton University from the mid-1940s through the late 1960s. Richards was born in Scotland in 1899, the son of a steel magnate. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War I, and immigrated to the United States after the war.
Richards worked as an accountant for several decades after his arrival in the United States. During this period, Richards learned photography from Thomas Edison's personal photographer in exchange for giving the man, a Lithuanian, English lessons. At first, Richards treated photography as just a hobby, but around 1944, he applied for a position as a photographer in Princeton's Palmer Laboratory, which was then home to work being conducted under the Manhattan Project. The University hired him, and Richards' new career as a Princeton-based photographer was born when, his very first night in town, the University Gymnasium burned down and Richards was there photographing the blaze. Richards' position in Palmer Lab ended along with the end of World War II, but he found steady employment doing freelance photography in the Princeton area. His primary client was the University's new public relations department, but he also took photographs for publications, industrial clients, and scientific researchers.
Over the next quarter century, Richards' prolific work included thousands of images of buildings, celebrations, sporting events, and people associated with Princeton. Some of Richards' most popular images are from his photo shoots with Albert Einstein; these include the last portrait of Einstein before his death, and iconic images of Einstein walking between his home and his office at the Institute for Advanced Studies. Richards is also credited with having captured the only known image of Presidents Hoover, Truman, and Eisenhower together; the three posed for him at an event celebrating Princeton's bicentennial in 1947.
The subject that Richards' photographed most consistently, however, was Princeton University football. Over the more than 20 years leading up to his announced retirement in 1965, he missed photographing only five Princeton varsity football games. In addition to photographing nearly every varsity game, Richards shot images of junior varsity, freshman and 150-lb. division football, he made individual and team portraits of players and coaches, and he captured images of activity at Princeton's Blairstown training camp. His subjects during this period included Heisman trophy-winner Dick Kazmaier and beloved head coach Charles W. Caldwell. When Caldwell Field House was dedicated in 1963, over 100 of Richards' photographs decorated its walls. Richards died in February 1984.
Physical Description3 boxes
Negatives of individuals include Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, Martin Buber, Bernard Baruch and Woodrow Wilson, Allen Dulles, John Foster Dulles, Alger Hiss, George Kennan, Harold Medina, John O'Hara, Linus Carl Pauling, H. Alexander Smith and Mrs. Smith, Adlai Stevenson, and many others not listed here. A few prints are interspersed among these negatives.
Physical Description1 box
Richards seems to have organized negatives in this group into the following categories: Ceremonies and Occasions (including dedications, clay pipe day, Reunions, Navy at Princeton); Departments (Chemistry, Engineering, Oriental Studies, Religion, Woodrow Wilson School); and Miscellaneous Groups (ROTC, Population Research, Trustees, Vienna Choir Boys, Cheerleaders, Architecture Department, Choir, Glee Club, Whig-Clio).
Physical Description1 box
Negatives of reunion events for the Classes of 1893, 1907, 1915, 1921 (crew reunion), 1922, 1924, 1947, and possibly others.
Physical Description1 box
A group of photographic prints once found in Alan Richards' faculty file, including photographs from a 1957 trip to Russian hospitals, a photo of a Pan Am jet, a photo of Mount Princeton, and a photo of two men holding large fish, with canoes in the background. One of the men may be Alan Richards.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
A manuscript written by an anonymous individual consisting of "the names of the students who composed the class, which graduated in the College of New Jersey in the year eighteen hundred and twenty seven;-- together with their respective standings at the close of their college course; the talents of each; (according to my estimation) and also the character of each while in college." The 28 descriptions include Benjamin Williamson, described as "...quick to commit, slow to understand, full of words, but often void of sense - character not very respectable" and David Bogart, who "...took fifth honour - of moderate talents - character respectable."
Physical Description1 folder
Photographs of labor, expeditions, and encampments in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War, as well as photographs of Peter Vredenburgh and others in military uniforms. Photographs have extensive annotations on the back. One recounts military engagements between Moro people and Vredenburgh's expedition. One seems to be of a railyard in Mexico in 1900. Places mentioned are Lake Lanao, Taal, Janaojanao, Mindanao, Pandan, and Marawi.
Physical Description1 folder
A folder of printed Princetoniana such as Sophomore Reception dance cards; invitations to and programs for Class Day and Commencement exercises; Glee and Banjo Clubs concert programs; Alumni Association By-Laws; Reunion invitations; Alumni dinner pamphlets; a Washington's Birthday Yum-Yum Club menu; Francis Landey Patton Inauguration order of ceremonies; Dramatic Association programs; the Princeton College Bulletin; and other Class of 1888 materials. Junius Spencer Morgan was a member of the Class of 1888. These materials were transferred to the University Archives from Firestone Library, presumably having been separated from the Morgan Family Papers.
Physical Description1 folder
An April, 1971 letter from Henry Van Dusen to Manning Brown headed, "To the 'Search Committee' of the Board of Trustees, in their quest of a new President for Princeton University." The letter describes the method the previous Committee used in selecting Robert Goheen as President, as well as an interview Van Dusen conducted with Goheen "about his wife's Roman Catholicism." Also included is Van Dusen's letter to Carlos Baker in May, 1971 describing the letter to Manning Brown, and a note Carlos Baker wrote in 1984 describing the letters as "of interest because of Dr. Van Dusen's rehearsal of the procedures followed by the earlier committee, and because of his account of his interview with Goheen at the Century Association on the question of Margaret Goheen's religious affiliation."
Physical Description1 folder