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Sesquicentennial Celebration Records
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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 celebration of the College's 150th anniversary in October 1896 was an event over two years in the making. By all accounts, it was a great success. Participants long remembered the eloquent speeches made by former U.S. President Grover Cleveland and future U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and the procession of torch-carrying Princetonians that marched through town to a Nassau Hall covered with orange electric lights. The culminating announcement came from College President Francis Landey Patton when he declared that "what heretofore for one hundred fifty years has been known as the College of New Jersey shall in all future time be known as Princeton University."
The three-day Sesquicentennial Celebration included hundreds of undergraduates, thousands of alumni, representatives from universities throughout the world, distinguished European scholars, and delegations of students from other colleges and universities. The College and the town were decorated everywhere with red, white, and blue, and orange and black banners; the College erected an arched gateway at one end of Nassau Street, while the town put up a matching gateway at the other end. Princeton won the sesquicentennial football game against Virginia, 48-0. In addition to Grover Cleveland and then Professor Woodrow Wilson, speakers at the celebration included several European scholars, the poet and professor Henry van Dyke, the president of Harvard, Charles Eliot, and the College's own president, Francis Landey Patton.
The collection is arranged in five series as follows:
Compiled by the Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee and the University Library. The third scrapbook in Series 4 and the contents of Series 3 were donated to the Library in June 1904 by the Rev. George Blackburn Kinkead III, Class of 1899.
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 Matthew Reeder in December 2002. Finding aid written by Matthew Reeder in December 2002. Boxes 16 and 17 were added by Christie Peterson in May 2012.
No appraisal information is available.
People
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- University Archives
- Finding Aid Author
- Matthew Reeder
- Finding Aid Date
- 2003
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Collection Inventory
No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Celebration Materials, circa 1887-1993, collects invitations, programs, mass mailings, event notices, pins, and correspondence relating to the celebration (similar materials can be found in the first scrapbook in Series 4). A typed draft of President Francis Landey Patton's sesquicentennial sermon with corrections, a photograph album of the event, and a published book of sketches from the celebration by William Silas Whitehead can be found in this series as well.
Physical Description3 boxes
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Large-format invitation (written in Latin) to the president and faculty of Bucknell University to attend the celebrations associated with the sequicentennial anniversary. Also includes a translation of the document.
Physical Description1 box
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Includes Survey of Rooms in Princeton Conducted Spring 1896
Physical Description1 box
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Institutional Congratulations, 1896-1899, includes official congratulations issued to Princeton by colleges, universities, and academic societies around the world. While some were written in Latin, on vellum, or in calligraphy, others were merely written longhand to acknowledge receipt of an invitation from the sesquicentennial organizing committee. Congratulatory documents from Athens, Dartmouth, Paris, Rutgers, Tokyo, and Zurich are especially notable. Documents are sorted alphabetically by institution except for the oversize documents, which are all grouped together.
Physical Description2 boxes
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3 folders
No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Memorial Book Autograph Edition Correspondence, 1896-1904, consists of the correspondence between the Rev. George Blackburn Kinkead III, Class of 1899, and participants in the Sesquicentennial Celebration for the purpose of acquiring their signatures. Kinkead pasted the autographs in a Sesquicentennial Celebration memorial book (Box 15) and donated it to the Library in 1904. Material in this series is sorted according to the last initial of the correspondent.
Physical Description1 box
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Scrapbooks, 1896-1897, contains seven volumes stored in boxes. The first contains ephemera relating to the celebration, such as invitations, tickets, notices, class newsletters, and press releases. The other volumes hold newspaper clippings about the celebration. These volumes are repetitive because most newspapers chose to reprint the news releases in full. There are, however, some original articles, illustrations, and notices regarding the Sesquicentennial Celebration; and clippings from newspapers throughout the country are represented.
Physical Description7 boxes
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Memorial Book Engravers' Plates, 1898, consists of the engraved plates used to print the illustrations in the memorial book published in that year. Illustrations include portraits of the College's presidents, prominent or new buildings, and an image of the sesquicentennial torchlight procession with former U.S. President Grover Cleveland in the foreground. The plates are arranged alphabetically by subject. The boxes containing the plates are very heavy. Researchers should use care when handling.
Physical Description3 boxes
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Memorial Books, 1898, includes three memorial books whose purpose was to document the Sesquicentennial Celebration. The first volume is unaltered. The second has been enhanced with original documents, particularly those containing the autographs of the College's former presidents and officials involved with the Sesquicentennial Celebration. Hundreds of autographs (almost entirely by people present at the celebration) have been added to the third volume.
Physical Description3 boxes
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