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

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f V ' ■ « r « »A»ip THE REVOLUTK 0»rWAR MO»U ALU il!l jom, „■„„.—.■ ■ ■ « : H » Mti V.T«UW ° Ltl Ct»TO« «l -. -, T7M - 7 .: 2 - W AS ■I » ■ : i ■ i IEA 5C In the Memorial Room are inscribed the names of the 61 ' ) I ' rincelon men who died in the country ' s tears. trad of land bought with the 1000 pounds they had raised. In 1733 it was decided that the college would be located in Princeton. Ground was broken a year later. In the fall of 1756 seventy undergraduates moved into Nassau Hall, which was named by Governor Belcher in honor f William II of Nassau. It was then the largest building in America. When the British approached Princeton, classes were suspended and during the Battle of Princeton old Nassau 1 1. ill. the site of the Bedcoats ' last stand, changed hands three times. Following the American victory, American troops were quartered in the building. After the war Nassau Hall was the nation ' s capital for four months in 1783. 1 1 was here on August 26th that Washington was thanked by Congress for his conduct of the war and later sat for a portrait which now hangs in the Faculty Boom of Nassau Hall. The frame, originally intended for a pic- ture of George II, was torn by a cannon ball at the Battle of Princeton. During this period the Congress received in Nassau Hall the first en o to the new nation, Peter J. Van Berckel from the Netherlands. Following the Revolutionary period. Nassau Hall, orig- inallv designed b William Shippen and Robert Smith, survived two fires which were believed to have been caused bv student vandalism. After the fire of 1802. John Notman completely changed the style of the building. adding towers at the east and west ends and greatly enlarging the central wing to house the library. In 1855 the building was again burned out. and the following restoration increased the height of the cupola, which, until 1955, was the scene of an annual attempt by the freshman class to stun proctors and sophomores by removing the clapper from the bell, fter the restoration of 1855 the onl major change in Old Nassau took place The ' resident irlf l four of the tirenty degree recipients. First Day (.overs uere popular among local philatelists. 16

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Above: Following a serious fire in 1855, the eminent John Notman restored Nassau Hall. Right: The ceremonial mace which was presented to the University by the residents of Princeton. Declaration of Independence and receptions honoring George Washington and Lafayette. On Friday and Satur- day the building ' s 65-foot-high tower was illuminated by floodlights. On Sunday morning, the L niversity ' s opening exercises and the Bicentennial celebration were held in front of Nassau Hall. A large academic procession including the trustees, members of the faculty, and special guests pre- ceded the exercises. The principal address was delivered by Dr. John Baillie, Principal of New College, University of Edinburgh, on the subject Education for Service to God. Following Dr. Baillie ' s address. B. Frank Bunn ' 07, representing the residents of the Princeton community, presented a silver mace to the university as an ' appro- priate symbol of the community ' s continuing regard for the University. The mace will be used in the future at all convocations, and is to be kept at all other times in a glass case in the Faculty Room of Nassau Hall. The entire fund for the mace and display case was raised by popular subscription. After the presentation, President Dodds, giving the third important speech of the weekend, spoke on the sub- ject of the significance of Nassau Hall in Princeton ' s tra- ditions and educational policy. Dr. Dodds then awarded twenty honorary degrees to persons representative of education, the church, and the state. Among the recipients were: John Sloan Dickey, President of Dartmouth Col- lege; Barnaby C. Keeney, President of Brown University- George Frost Kennan ' 25, former United States Ambassa- dor to the Soviet Union; Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations: Jan Herman Van Roijen, Ambassador from the Netherlands to the United States; and Robert B. Meyner, Governor of New Jersey. The awarding of degrees was followed by the benedic- tion given by Rev. Ernest Gordon, Dean of the University Chapel, after which a luncheon for the degree recipients and guests of honor was held in the University Commons. The Bicentennial climaxed the chain of events begun when Princeton University received a royal charter from George II on October 22, 1746, and opened the follow- ing May in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After the college had moved to Newark following the death of its first president, it became apparent that a permanent home was desirable, and for this reason the residents of Princeton offered a 15

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O A I l growing college: Princeton in 1875, when Nassau Hall was the center of campus life. in 1905-06 when the tops of the towers were removed and the library was remodeled into the present faculty room. Aside from Washington, Nassau Hall in the last 200 years has been host to many distinguished people — James Madison. Lighthorse Harry Lee, Luther Martin — and nearly all the other great Colonial figures, including Jefferson. Lafayette, and the Adamses. Others have included John Marshall and Daniel Webster, nearly every President of the United States, Thomas Edison, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles Evans Hughes. Originally Nassau Hall contained bedrooms, a dining hall, a prayer hall, and classrooms. Until the first dormi- tories were built in the 1330 ' s. the name was identical with the College of New Jersey, often referred to as Nassau Hall. When the College of New Jersey became Princeton University in 1896, there were only a few boarders in the building, most of it being used for administrative offices. Today the building houses the offices of the President of the University, the Dean of the Graduate School, the Dean of the Facultv. the Dean of the College and the other officers of the administration. Here, in the Faculty Room, the University trustees and faculty regularly hold their meetings, and on the marble walls of Memorial Hall are inscribed the names of Prince- tonians who have given their lives in the nation ' s conflicts from the Revolution through the Korean War. As Bicentennial ceremonies for the historic edifice came to a close. President Dodds appropriately linked its past with expectations for the future. In concluding his address he said. Nassau Hall ' s greatest days are ahea d, not behind. . . . With God ' s help, we shall prove that the vision which built Nassau Hall persists today and will sustain us in the future. . . . A new bell with welded clapper ended an old tradition. New mace rested by the Tiger during the opening exercises. 17