Timeline

The timeline below features key moments in Princeton University's history. This timeline is designed as a resource to spotlight a selection of lesser-known experiences at Princeton rather than serve as an exhaustive historical record. Each entry contains a "Continue Reading" link which will guide you to more detailed information about initiatives taken to respond to each respective historical moment. The centuries below enable you to jump to particular moments in time.

1748

Charter of The College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) was signed, one of the only higher education institutions of the period to not discriminate on the basis of religion

The University created the "Firsts at Princeton" (In)Visible Princeton historical walking tour featuring images and texts from the University archives including information about religious diversity on campus.

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Image of Prospect Farm — Drawing of 18th-century Prospect Farm constructed by Colonel George Morgan, U.S. Agent for Indian Affairs

1756

The College of New Jersey moves to Princeton and settles on land considered part of the ancient homelands of the Lenni-Lenape peoples

The University provides guidance for colleagues and students seeking to craft a land acknowledgement text for their unit or group.

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Image of Maclean House — Photo of the President's House c.1920

1766

Six unnamed enslaved people sold in sale at Maclean House, then the President’s House

As one part of Princeton's public acknowledgement of its institutional ties to the institution of slavery, the University commissioned commemorative artwork by Titus Kaphar and installed a permanent marker in front of Maclean House

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Drawing of Betsey Stockton — Portrait of Betsey Stockton c. 1865

1804

First record of Betsey Stockton, an enslaved woman from Philadelphia, within the household of Rev Ashbel Green, President of Princeton University

The University named a garden after Stockton and installed a permanent marker between Nassau Street and Firestone Library

James Johnson 1881 circa table of goods — Image of James Collins Johnson on Princeton's campus c. 1881

1839

Princeton student reports University employee James Collins Johnson for being a “fugitive slave”

The University named an archway in East Pyne, a central and prominent campus building, after Johnson and installed permanent marker

Photo of Woodrow Wilson from the Princeton University Archives — Image of President Woodrow Wilson from the University Archives, c. 1890

1902

Woodrow Wilson becomes President of Princeton University

The University installed an art installation titled “Double Sights” about Woodrow Wilson’s complicated legacy after a process of consultation with the Princeton community

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Landscaping the Campus — Undated photo of Beatrix Jones Farrand

1915

Beatrix Farrand becomes Princeton University’s first woman landscape architect, leaving an enduring legacy on campus design

The University named a courtyard in Farrand’s honor

Image of Turing's information records while a Princeton student — Papers from Turing's Graduate School file, 1936

1938

Alan Turing, a pioneer in the field of computer science and a gay man who was persecuted because of his sexual orientation, receives PhD in Mathematics from Princeton University

The University commissioned a portrait of Alan Turing

Arthur Lewis lecturing to a full audience in what is now the Sir Arthur Lewis auditorium in Robertson Hall — Sir Arthur Lewis teaching in Robertson Hall auditorium now named in his honor, c.1972

1963

Sir W. Arthur Lewis joins the Princeton Faculty as the University’s first black Full Professor, going on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics

The University named a major auditorium in Robertson Hall in honor of Lewis and commissioned a portrait

1963

T’sai-Ying Cheng *63 *64 becomes the first woman to receive a degree from Princeton

The University features Cheng’s story in an interactive walking tour titled “Stories of Asians & Asian-Americans at Princeton” as part of the (In)Visible Princeton Project

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1968

Dr Carl A. Fields appointed Assistant Dean of the College, becoming the first African American to serve as dean at an Ivy League institution

The University commissioned a portrait of Dr. Fields and renamed the Third World Center as The Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding

1969

Dr Robert Rivers becomes first African American to serve on Princeton’s Board of Trustees

The University named a roadway leading from Nassau Street to East Pyne “Rivers Way” in honor of Dr Rivers and commissioned a portrait

Image of a newspaper article in the Princetonian titled "New Women's Center initiates educational, cultural classes" — Clipping from *The Daily Princetonian*, c.1973

1971

Women’s Center founded by Princeton Students, two years after co-education

The University created a new interactive walking tour titled “Women at Princeton” as part of the (In)Visible Princeton Project

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Image of CC Rouse, Sonia Sotomayor and President Eisgruber — Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Dean Cecilia Rouse, Sonia Sotomayor '76, and President Eisgruber '83

1976

Sonia Sotomayor graduates from Princeton, later becoming the first Latina Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

Sotomayor received the Woodrow Wilson Award, the University’s highest honor for undergraduate alumni. At the ceremony on Alumni Day 2014 Sotomayor posited adding to Princeton’s informal motto, saying: “Princeton in the nation’s service, in the service of all nations, and in the service of humanity, one person and one act at a time."

Photograph of Professor Toni Morrison holding a copy of her book — Toni Morrison

1989

Toni Morrison becomes the Robert F. Goheen Professor of Comparative Literature, going on to be the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

The University renamed West College as Morrison Hall in Morrison’s honor and commissioned a portrait

Photo of Denny Chin in a classroom — Denny Chin

1994

Denny Chin ’75 appointed as one of the first Asian-American Federal Judges in the USA

The University commissioned a portrait of Judge Chin