Princeton University - Bric A Brac Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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TABLE OP CONTENTS Views 13 Register .... 35 Faculty .... 41 Graduate School . . 55 The Classes . . . 6i Publications . . . 105 The Halls .... 12.1 Public Speaking . 133 Musical Clubs . 145 Dramatics .... i6i Athletics .... 175 Religious Organizations 311 Upper Class Clubs School Clubs . Sectional Clubs F.A.R.O.T.C. Miscellaneous Dances Retrospect Commencement Alumni Activities Directory . Index ... Advertisements Hi kJ

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St JL JJ Cf ir V?: ■®©©®®®sk. FO%EWO%D jNOTHER year has passed, leaving its manifold memories, its opportunities and successes, its pleasures and dis- appointments. It is the privilage of the 19x8 Bric-A-Brac to record the varied activities, giving rise to these phases, and to attempt to bring back to graduate and undergra- duate alike the thrill of another championship football season, of exa- mination and bicker week suspense, and of the gayety of the proms and house parties. To accomplish this purpose, we have tried, not to present a mere statistical record of events, but to place those events against a back- ground which will recall them to the fullest extent, and help to keep the memory of the closing year forever fresh to those who have par- ticipated in the making of this bit of history for old Nassau. i.t j jj w ir ■v?

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I 1 1 II I I I I II I I I I 11 II II II u w 19281 An Early History of Princeton A STUDY of the history of Princeton shows it to be closely linked with the names of several great pres- idents, to whose ambition and ene rgy the Univer- sity ' s present position in the front ranks of American educational institutions is due. Princeton owes its origin to a movement set on foot by the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia in 1739 to estab- lish in the Middle Colonies a college to rank with Har- vard and Yale in New England and William and Mary in Virginia, which were too far away, in those days of slow travel, and too radical to suit pious Calvinists. Prior to 1746, the only in the Middle Colonies purporting to give a college education was the Log College, located on Neshaminy Creek, about twenty miles from Phila- delphia, which offered a very restricted curriculum. Religious dissension halted all progress in the direction of a new college until 1746, when several alumni of Log College united with the Presbyterian Synods of New Jersey and New York and under the leadership of Eben- czer Pemberton, a Harvard graduate, and Johnathan Edwards, a graduate of Yale, obtained a charter from Governor John Hamilton of New Jersey for a college to be erected in this State. With the grant of a more ade- quate charter by Governor Belcher the following year, college was opened at Elizabeth Town in the parsonage of the first president, the Rev. Johnathan Dickinson. His term of office was cut short by his untimely death a few months later, and the college removed to Newark, with the elder Aaron Burr as president. Here in 1748 the first commencement took place, six men graduating. With the enlargement of the scope of the curriculum and the size of the student body under President Burr, conditions in Newark became cramped and the question as to another and a permanent site for the college became pressing. After due consideration by the trustees, the choice devolved upon either New Brunswick or Prince- ton. More favorable inducements offered by the people of the latter town and a gift of a large plot of land meas- uring four and a half acres, by Nathaniel FitzRandolph, settled the choice upon Princeton. Accordingly, on July 19, 1754, ground was broken for the building which was afterward known as Nassau Hall. At its completion, it was the largest stone building of its kind in the col- onies, containing sixty separate apartments for recitation rooms, dining room, sleeping quarters, a hall, and a chapel. It was proposed at first to name the building after Governor Belcher, but he modestly declined the honor and suggested that it be called after King William the Third, of the House of Nassau. In 1756 President Burr and seventy students formally occupied Nassau Hall. Under the successive administrations of Presidents Burr, Edwards, Davies, and Finley the college steadily increased in numbers and influence until its development was suddenly halted by the outbreak of the Revolution. It was due to the foresight and determination of Presi- dent Witherspoon that the college was able to weather that war. Nassau Hall was captured by the British and Hessians and used as barracks; during the Battle of Princeton it changed hands three times in a single day, each time suffering considerable damage from bullets. College was practically disbanded during the first years of the war, but reopened in 1777. Sessions were held in the Presidents house, pending repairs on Nassau Hall. For several years the attendance was very small, not more than six or seven graduating each year. A disastrous fire in 1802. and the Riot of 1807, as a consequence of which 115 of the zoo students were expelled, featured the administration of President Smith. But the greatest disturbance was the Great Rebellion, 1817, when the undergraduates barricaded Nassau Hall, 11