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

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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRINCETON NEW JERSEY president ' s ROOM May 1, I960 To the Class of 1961: This 82nd edition of the Bric-A-Brac , linking Princeton Present and Princeton Future with the vigorous decades of James McCosh ' s adminis- tration, emphasizes a quality the great universities of the western world share in common with the church and state. This is continuity. And in the university, as in the church and state, the successes or failures of the past inevitably are of far-reaching importance to the present, while the actions of the present leave alw ays their shaping impress on the future. Princeton ' s classrooms and laboratories, as President McCosh saw so clearly in the 1870 ' s and 1880 ' s when the Bric-A-Brac was brought into being, are among the forges of the nation ' s future. In them our scholars draw upon the great store of contributions made to every facet of civiliza- tion by past generations, and to this accumulated experience they add the fresh insight that is the essential ingredient in the development of creative manpower and new ideas -- manpower and ideas to serve not alone our own times but the on-coming generations as well. Here we have the essential link between the Princeton of today and the Princeton of President McCosh. In the same way the College of New Jersey in the third quarter of the 19th century accepted the challenges presented by a changing and expanding nation, we in the 1960 ' s must do everything within our power to make certain that Princeton, in a time of heightened national growth and responsibility, continues to develop as a stronghold of excellence -- as a vital and contributing force in the forefront of American higher education. To hold such a place, and to be such a positive influence in what President Wilson called the very exigent matter of lifting all of the counsels of the country to a higher plane and place and opportunity of vision is what all of us, I am sure, are determined upon for Princeton. This is our job and we must not fail, if Princetonians decades from now are to be as proud of their Princeton as we are of ours: the University we have inherited from those who have gone before us. With all good wishes. Sincerely, Robert F. Goheen

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The College of New Jersey was louiulcd in 171(3 by a gioujj of Piesb) lei iaii clergynicii who (onciuiLcl that (he existing colleges — Harvard, ' ale, and ' W ' illiain and Mary — were inadetiiiale h)r the eihuaiiDna! neeils oi the Middle Colonies. 1 he lasl liandiu! ol Mudenis niei together in the May of ihc following year in the par- sonage of Jonathan Dickenson at Eli abc ih. Willi liie building of Nassau Hall in llb ' l the heritage of the College was permanently rooted, and by 189f), its siis- cjiietentcnnial year, the institution was so transformed — largely as a residt of the administration of James McCosh (1868 to 1888)— that Princeton University lornially came into being. A new transioniiaiioii now confronts ilie University as an expansion ol laciliiies, alreach under way, de- mands the concern of Princetonians across the nation. ' ith this growth, however, Princeton is ])ledge(l to maintain its high standaicl ol si liolai ship and teai hing excellence, imporiaiu now as in the past.

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w I ' liolo In G;il)or F.dtr ROBERT FRANCIS GOHEEN, PH.D., LL.D THE PRESIDENT