Call Number:

AC018

Repository:

Princeton University Library: University Archives

Extent:

1 box

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Harrington DeGoyler Green Letters, Box and Folder Number; University Archives, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1906-1917 (inclusive)

Creator:

Green, Harrington DeGoyler, 1891-1914

Abstract:

This collection contains the personal letters of Harrington De Goyler Green (1891-1914) to his parents James Albert Green and Louise Coy Green of Peoria, Illinois and later of Cincinnati Ohio. The bulk of the letters were written by Harrington Green as an undergraduate student at Princeton University from 1908 to 1913 and provide a first hand account of student life at Princeton. Green sent-other letters from summer camp at Pointe au Baril, Ontario, Canada in 1906 and while vacationing in Europe during the summer of 1908. The collection also contains copies of written examinations given in various subjects; letters written by Green from New York City, as he sought employment in the spring of 1913; a book of Green's poems; and letters of condolence upon his sudden death in August 1914.

Harrington DeGoyler Green was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on January 28, 1891. He graduated from Hughes High School, in 1908. During the summer of 1908 Green sailed to Naples, Italy with his older brother Joseph Coy Green and traveled extensively throughout Europe.

As a student at Princeton University in the class of 1912, Green majored in English Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in February 1913. He was well versed in classical Literature studied Latin, Greek, and German. However, poetry always remained his passion. Green wrote a wide variety of poems and was a frequent contributor to the Nassau Literary Magazine. Thirteen of his poems were published in A Book of Princeton Verse, 1916, an anthology of verse written by Princeton undergraduates and edited by the visiting English poet Alfred Noyes. Green also wrote the 1912 Class Ode. While at Princeton University he was a member of the Philadelphian Society, Manuscript Club, Swimming Team and editor in chief of poetry at the Nassau Literary Magazine. Harrington Green was a Republican and had a strong interest in national political affairs.

After graduating from Princeton he lived in New York City for a few months while seeking a position as a journalist. In the summer of 1913, he returned to Cincinnati, and worked for the Cincinnati Enquirer. Harrington Green died suddenly on August 24, 1914 while recovering from a minor operation. He was survived by his parents Louise & James Green, and brothers Joseph, Robert and Matthew.

The correspondence begins in the summer of 1906 when Harrington DeGoyler Green was attending a summer camp in Pointe au Baril, Ontario, Canada, and describes various recreational activities such as sailing. The collection contains letters and postcards written while Green was vacationing in Europe in the summer of 1908 with his older brother Joseph Coy Green. He describes his perceptions of and experiences in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France and England.

The bulk of the letters were written when Green was an undergraduate student at Princeton University. His letters during the autumn of 1908 are significant, as they provide vivid descriptions of initiation traditions consisting of various "horsing" activities in which Sophomores challenged the spirit and endurance of the Freshmen class. Green, being of stocky build, was assigned a front row position among the charging Freshmen class in the activities. In the Election Rush, Freshmen students had to fight their way through lines of Sophomores who were blocking the entrance to the gymnasium where Freshmen elections were to be held. The Cannon Rush was a major event in which Freshmen had to break through lines of Sophomores tied together encircling the cannon. The objective of the rush was for the Freshmen to take control of the cannon by knocking off the president of the Sophomore class who stood on top of it swinging a rope in all directions in an attempt to beat back the courageous challengers. The Cane Spree was another favorite challenge where a cane had to be wrestled by a Freshman from the hands of a Sophomore. The only rule that was strictly adhered to in the Election Rush, Canon Rush and Cane Spree was that no biting was allowed. Aside from that anything went. Green's description of the aftermath of rushes is that they "weld the class together and put some spirit in it". For example he went on to say "I am pulling for my class and college now as I never did before."

The collection contains a significant number of Princeton University written examinations in the areas of History, English, Economics, Politics and Philosophy. An anthology of Green's poetry published in 1917 by his brother Robert Green and Grace Morgan (Green's fiancee) gives a good sense of a style and theme of poetry being created at Princeton University in the early twentieth century.