As they prepare for the future, seniors examine Princeton's past

by Eric Quiñones
Digging through a treasure-trove of Princeton artifacts -- from John F. Kennedy's undergraduate application to Woodrow Wilson's love letters to his future wife -- a group of seniors enjoyed a glimpse of the University's history as part of a series of "minicourses" designed to help prepare them for the future.

The course, held May 6 and led by University Archivist Dan Linke, provided 20 seniors with a hands-on look at documents and memorabilia from the collections of the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library. The archives contain records of campus activities beginning with the University's establishment as the College of New Jersey in 1746, and also include about 200 important public policy collections.

"It was nice to be able to touch all these things we don't normally get to see out in the open, and to spend some time with the other seniors," said Heather Russo as she perused a box of materials from Kennedy's brief stint as a Princeton undergraduate. Kennedy was admitted as a member of Princeton's class of 1939, but left campus after becoming ill and later enrolled at Harvard University. Students noted that his application included a rather dry essay and a reference to his plans to go into banking after college.

The 90-minute session was one of several minicourses organized by the class of 2004, covering a range of topics from academic lectures to seminars on investing, business etiquette and apartment searching.

"We wanted to give seniors one final opportunity to hear from a famous faculty member, learn a real-world skill or learn more about the institution," said Rishi Jaitly, who helped coordinate the minicourses as vice president of the senior class and also participated in the Mudd Library session.

Future minicourses, which run through May 18, will feature President Shirley M. Tilghman on genomics research; psychologist and Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman on the science of happiness; ethicist Peter Singer on ethical obligations; electrical engineering professor and former congressman Ed Zschau on entrepreneurship; legal scholar Robert George on the 1925 Scopes trial; and historian Paul Miles on current political affairs.

In the Mudd Library course, Linke gave each student a box with samples of materials from the archives and public policy collections. The students shared their impressions of the items as Linke provided historical perspective on the materials and explained how some of them related to life at Princeton today.

David Follette's box contained a collection of lottery tickets from the state and the University, dating back to the 1760s. "Before Annual Giving, the University held lotteries," Linke noted. "This was a common fund-raising technique in early higher education."

In sharing her collection with the class, Russo recited some of the "very lofty and flowery" language Woodrow Wilson used in a letter to his future wife, Ellen Axson, in 1883, before his tenures as a Princeton faculty member, University president, New Jersey governor and U.S. president. Russo noted that Axson's responses did not match the verbosity of Wilson's, but that she did make ample use of exclamation points.

Students also examined the papers of John Foster Dulles, a member of the class of 1908 who served as President Eisenhower's secretary of state, and papers and memorabilia from his brother Allen Dulles of the class of 1914, including an ID card from his time as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

They also explored a box of memorabilia simply labeled "tobacco," which included a cigarette case belonging to famed Princeton athlete Hobey Baker of the class of 1914, as well as Reunions-themed ashtrays and matches. Other items included senior theses from former Secretary of State George Shultz of the class of 1942 and Brooke Shields of the class of 1987, yearbooks, handwritten Board of Trustee records from the 19th century and 18th-century land deeds recorded on parchment.

"It was a really interesting way to put Princeton in perspective and get a sense of how massive it is," Ananya Lodaya said.