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Syllabi and Course Materials Collection
Notifications
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 Syllabi Collection brings together original materials from the university archives that document the content of classes taught at Princeton University. Document types include printed syllabi, reading lists, study outlines, grade books, examinations and similar materials.
Additional syllabi and course materials will be added to the collection as accrued by the University Archives.
This collection has been assembled through multiple accessions.
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.
Series 2 was added to the collection and the finding aid updated by Christie Peterson with assistance from Suchi Mandavilli '14 and Eleanor Wright '14 in October 2011. Series 3 found in repository and added by Phoebe Nobles in 2023.
Appraisal has been conducted according to University Archives procedures.
- Publisher
- University Archives
- Finding Aid Date
- 2007
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research use with the exception of one file in Series 1 (Box 1) that contains student records that are restricted for 75 years from their date of creation. The file is marked as restricted in the inventory below.
Restrictions beyond 30 years are noted in the relevant series or subseries descriptions and in the folder list.
- 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
Items in Series 1: Syllabi and Course Materials, 1884-2005 are arranged alphabetically by subject name, which may not be identical to the department name. For example, syllabi for French courses are under "French," regardless of whether the course was taught under the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures or the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. Materials from courses at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs are grouped at the end.
Series 1: Syllabi and Course Materials, 1884-2005 consists of syllabi, reading lists, study outlines, grade books, examinations and similar materials from Princeton University courses in a variety of subjects. The majority of the materials are from the 20th century.
Physical Description5 boxes
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American biologist and educator, Edwin Grant Conklin specialized in embryology and cytology and was an ardent evolutionist. He was one of the leading proponents of the importance of cytoplasmic localization and segregation during development. Chairman of the biology department at Princeton (1908-1933), he published the widely-read Heredity and Environment in the Development of Men (1915).
Physical Description1 box
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Includes examination questions for Chemistry 101 and 102.
Physical Description1 box
Includes lecture topics and assigned readings for Chemistry 101 and 102.
Physical Description1 box
Courses taught by Professor Ta-tuan Chen.
Atkinson, Glenn1 box
Courses taught by Professor Ta-tuan Chen at the Middlebury Summer Language School.
Atkinson, Glenn1 box
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Includes syllabus, examinations, and lecture handouts.
Physical Description1 box
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Printed book of Professor Billington's lecture notes.
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Includes examination questions for English 101 and 102.
Physical Description1 box
Includes reading list and writing instructions for English 101 and 102.
Physical Description1 box
Includes student essays for English 101 and 102.
Physical Description1 box
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Bliss Perry was an American educator, author, and editor. He taught at Princeton University from 1893 to 1900 and at Harvard University from 1907 to 1930; he was Harvard lecturer at the University of Paris from 1909 to 1910. From 1899 to 1909, Perry was the editor of the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. The French government awarded him the Legion of Honour. He edited many volumes, including the works of Edmund Burke, Sir Walter Scott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He wrote a number of books, including works on Walt Whitman, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Thomas Carlyle, as well as novels, short fiction, essays, an autobiography, and studies of poetry.
Physical Description1 box
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William Libbey (Princeton Class of 1877) was a professor of physical geography at Princeton University. Libbey also served in the New Jersey National Guard, evenutally advancing to the rank of colonel, and was twice a member of the U.S. Olympic Rifle Team, winning a silver medal at the 1912 Olympic Games.
Libbey, William (1855-1927)1 box
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Includes mid-term examination (1965) and final examination (1967) for History 202, American Industrial Growth, Professor Lively; mid-term and final examinations for History 201, Origins of the United States, Professor W. Frank Craven (1966-1967); syllabus for History 302, America from Reconstruction to World War I, Professor James McPherson (Spring 1967).
Physical Description2 folders
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Includes course materials for Physics 203, 208, 304 and 311 such as syllabi, examinations, and laboratory assignment handouts.
Physical Description1 box
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A Hungarian-born physicist, Wigner worked in the early 1930s as a professor at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, where he studied the quantum mechanical interpretation of atomic spectra which resulted in the publication of his book Gruppentheorie und Ihre Anwendung auf die Quantenmechanik Der Atomspektren (1931), later translated and published as Group Theory (1951), now a classic in its field. He moved to the United States, where he became professor of mathematical physics at Princeton University from 1933 to1937 and from 1937 to 1938 at the University of Wisconsin; he then returned to Princeton, where he worked until 1971, becoming professor emeritus. Prior to World War II, Wigner, along with Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein, was instrumental in getting the United States government to investigate the use of atomic energy for military purposes. During the War, he was on the staff of the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago (the Manhattan Project) researching ways to produce an atomic bomb, and he helped design the nuclear reactor at Hanford, Wash., where plutonium was produced. He was a member of the general advisory committee for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (1952-1957, 1959-1964) and director of the Civil Defense Research Project at Oak Ridge, Tenn. (1964-1965), reflecting his interests in civil defense and national security. He received the Enrico Fermi Award (1958) and the Max Planck Medal (1961), and in 1963 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Physical Description1 box
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David F. Bradford (1939-2005) was a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University and served on the faculty from 1966 to 2005. His main areas of study were public finance and urban problems, and he was internationally known as an expert on taxation. His later research also included developing policies to address environmental issues. Bradford also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, Department of the Treasury from 1975 to 1976 and as a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors from 1991 to 1993.
Physical Description1 box
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Materials in Series 2: Syllabi Removed from the Princetoniana Collection, 1826-1947 (bulk 1950-1920) have been arranged in folders by subject, following the call numbers they were assigned under the Richardson classification system. The subject-based folders remain in the same alphabetical order in which the subjects appeared in the classification system. Please see the Special Collections Classed List of 1920 for an outline of this classification system.
Series 2: Syllabi Removed from the Princetoniana Collection, 1826-1947 (bulk 1850-1920) consists of printed syllabi and lecture notes that at some point were classified as part of the library's Princetoniana collection under call numbers starting with P435. Almost all of the items were printed specifically for use by students in classes at Princeton, and are based on lectures given by Princeton professors. They cover a broad range of subjects, including subjects no longer taught at Princeton, such as Law.
Physical Description29 boxes
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These course materials were removed from the Lecture Notes Collection (AC052), as they are not notes taken by students. Some material in this grouping may never have been in the Lecture Notes Collection but was stored together with material that was. Some are professors' notes for lectures, some are problem sets or laboratory instructions kept by students.
Physical Description2 boxes
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Photocopy.
Physical Description1 folder
Notes by Dan Lutzeier '49 and Thomas E. Dater '51.
Physical Description1 folder
Instructor: Wilbur WIllis Swingle. Notes by Fred E. Rogers '47. Folder includes a schedule of dissection of a cat from Biology 401.
Physical Description1 folder
With notes by R. McKeon
Physical Description1 folder
With notes by Fred B. Rogers '47.
Physical Description1 folder
Local water sample measurements of solids, chlorine, etc. at places such as Lawrenceville School Brook, Bridgeton Water Works, well east of Blairstown. Notebook and correspondence.
Physical Description1 folder
Instructions by C.H. Willis, work by Walter N. Snow
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Printed notes on topics in Socialism
Physical Description2 folders
Nathaniel Howell Furman '1913
Physical Description1 folder
Course taught by Professor Sollenberger; work by Robert McKeon '56.
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Printed course schedule with handwritten list of crustaceans from Bermuda on the back.
Physical Description1 folder
Printed booklet "History"; possible structure for lectures. With name of Wells Morris '1913 written at the top.
Physical Description1 folder