Princeton University Archives

Menu Monday: This is a menu from Chicago's Washington Park Club, December 30, 1905. It was found in a scrapbook made by Princeton alum Wilson Ferrand, Class of 1886.

We're not sure why Ferrand was in Chicago, but we do know that the Washington Park Club was a prominent country club in Chicago of that era.

Scrapbook Collection (AC026), Box 103

Princeton University's Cannon Exercises, ca. 1897.

Cannon Exercises were once part of Commencement Week celebrations, and happened on Class Day. Students would gather for lighthearted speeches, then smoke clay pipes and smash them against the cannon (a relic of the Revolutionary War's Battle of Princeton, which is "planted" upright on Cannon Green behind Nassau Hall). Here, you can see the cannon decorated with flowers for the occasion.

Menu Monday: If you're planning on serving a burger and fries to someone this summer, maybe you'll be inspired by this February 6, 1953 ad in the Daily Princetonian. Why call it just a burger when it can be a "grilled Hamburg sandwich?" Why fries when you can have "French fried potatoes"? It's all in the presentation.

Renwick's Restaurant was a fixture in Princeton for 87 years, closing in 1970.

Amos Doolittle, "View of Nassau Hall, Princeton," ca. 1776.

On May 21, 1998, local residents weighed in about plans for Princeton University's new campus center at a town meeting. Many disapproved a proposed arcade and sign on the north side of the building, for which the University had requested a zoning variance. Both students and townspeople are united in their negative views of the proposal. Former student body president Jeff Segal ’98, whose email above rallied the opponents of the design to gather at the meeting, said there, “I haven’t seen a structure so many students hated.” The town approved the plans for the building, but not for the arcade and sign. The University was not be allowed to put a large insignia on the south side of the building, either, because this is also judged to effectively be a sign.

Full text of Siegal's email:

Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 12:27:07 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jeffrey S. Siegel" <[email protected]> To: "Jeffrey S. Siegel" <[email protected]> Subject: Stop the Campus Center Arch! Hey everyone! Remember that archway that the University constructed in front of Palmer Hall last September that said "Center"? Do you remember how UGLY it was? Well...the University wants to build an even longer, and more hideous archway in front of Palmer Hall as part of Venturi's design for the new Campus Center. YOU CAN HELP STOP IT FROM HAPPENING!!! Tonight at Township Hall at 7:30 pm there is going to be a planning board meeting to discuss -- and VOTE -- on all aspects of the Campus Center Plans. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SHOW UP, THE PLANNING BOARD WON'T GRANT THE VARIANCE FOR THE ARCHWAY!!!! So basically I need your help. All you need to do is show up to the meeting. If you want to bring a sign, or give a short speech against the design that would be great -- but you can just sit and watch as well. Either way, your being there will really be helping to stop this from going forward. If you want to come, just meet at the Woodrow Wilson School turnaround at 8 pm (the public hearing part of the meeting doesn't start until 8 or so) and either I -- or someone else -- will meet you to drive you over. If you have a car, you can show up yourself by driving down to the Princeton Street until you see a building labeled "Township Municipal Complex" at Valley Rd (right by the intersection of Witherspoon and 206) and go straight in the front entrance of the building that looks like a school. The meeting shouldn't last too long, and your presence will make an ENORMOUS difference in whether this archway gets built! MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND COME TO THE MEETING! If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call at x8943. I should be in my room most of the afternoon. Please also feel free to send this to as many friends that you think might be interested in attending tonight's meeting. I look forward to seeing you there, Jeff

Email from Jeffrey Siegel, May 21, 1998. Undergraduate Student Government Records (AC185), Box 5.

This version of Princeton University's Whig Hall (shown in 1892) was designed by A. Page Brown, who also designed Clio Hall to look virtually identical to it. The original structures of "The Halls," as they were known, were built in the 1830s to house rivals the American Whig Society and the American Cliosophic Society, both founded in the colonial era, when they needed space beyond their original homes in Nassau Hall.

In 1889, crowds sought shelter from the rain on the porch of Whig Hall during the Cannon Exercises (part of Commencement Week celebrations). The floor collapsed under their weight. Fortunately, no one was injured, but it was concluded that the original wooden structures needed to be replaced to avoid future incidents. Imposing marble took place of wood. At the time they were made, the marble columns supporting the roof of Whig Hall were said to be the largest ever turned to date in the United States, at 19 feet 7 inches long and 2 feet 10 inches wide.