Princeton Alumni Weekly: Goin' Backstory

Princeton history columnist Gregg Lange '70 explores the traditions of campus vocal ensembles and recalls his experiences touring Europe with the Glee Club in 1968. Lange illustration by Steven Leach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Gregg Lange '70 recalls a handful of memorable members from Princeton's late, great Class of 1925, including Paul Swain Havens, Charlie Caldwell, George Kennan, and Malcolm Warnock. Lange illustration by Steven Leach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Gregg Lange '70 dips into military history with a look at the Navy and its long-standing, and somewhat choppy, relationship with ships called Princeton. Lange illustration by Steven Leach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Gregg Lange '70 channels his inner fashionista to look at Princeton style, from Brooks Brothers to the beer suit. Photos by Eli Schwartz *60; Lange illustration by Steven Leach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

For a university, taking sides on a political issue tends to be a "lose-lose" situation, says columnist Gregg Lange '70. Musing about Ai Weiwei's sculpture installation on Scudder Plaza, Lange's thoughts turn to one remarkable exception in the University's history: the American Revolution. Lange illustration by Steven Leach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Sixty years ago, the Princeton Band's plaid blazers, "the bicolor apex of '20s fashion ... (30 years late, but who's counting?)," made their debut on Ivy League gridirons, and that anniversary has columnist Gregg Lange '70 thinking about Princeton music and musicians. Photos courtesy of the Princeton University Band; Lange illustration by Steven Leach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

In this brief review of Princeton beer-jacket design trends, Gregg Lange '70 recalls some memorable stencils from the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 60s. He also offers a virtual hat tip to Dr. Peter Carril H'12. Lange illustration by Steven Veach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

The Reunions panel “PAW-litics: Inside the Presidential Campaign,” sponsored by the Princeton Alumni Weekly, featured nine alumni journalists discussing and debating key points of the 2012 race for the White House. Our special podcast presentation of the event includes the entire conversation. The panelists were Katrina vanden Heuvel ’81, editor and publisher of The Nation; Kathy Kiely ’77, managing editor of the Sunlight Foundation; Nick Confessore ’98, a reporter at The New York Times; Rick Klein ’98, senior Washington editor at ABC News; Ramesh Ponnuru ’95, senior editor of the National Review; Ryan T. Anderson ’04, editor of Public Discourse; Jennifer Epstein ’08, a reporter at Politico; Richard Just ’01, former editor of The New Republic; and Louis Jacobson ’92, a senior writer for PolitiFact. Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach ’82 moderated the discussion.For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Time is on our side, or at least time capsules seem to be. Gregg Lange '70 looks at how Princeton classes have attempted to encapsulate their eras for future generations. Lange illustration by Steven Veach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

In Gregg Lange '70's pre-Reunions post, the PAW history columnist recalls "orange and black before color TV" and makes the case for the simple joys of off-year reunions. Lange illustration by Steven Veach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

There are plenty of things in life that just, well ... are. The Woodrow Wilson School's selective major used to be one of them. But next year, the school will open its concentration to all undergrads who meet a new set of prerequisites -- and in Gregg Lange '70's view, that's a good thing for Princetonians who aim to be "in the nation's service." Lange illustration by Steven Veach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Columnist Gregg Lange '70 compares the related paths of John "Jay" Sherrerd '52 and Dean Mathey '12, two longtime trustees who helped Princeton flourish. Photos: Courtesy Anne Sherrerd *87; Brian Wilson/Office of Communications; PAW Archives; Brett Tomlinson/PAW. Lange illustration by Steven Veach. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Columnist Gregg Lange '70 explores the brilliance of John Bardeen *36 H'68, the only person on the planet to receive the Nobel in physics twice (and a fan of toasted hamburger buns). Photos: Courtesy Wikipedia/Nobel Foundation (Bardeen portrait); PAW Archives ('68 honorary degree recipients). For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Princeton owes a great deal to its grad alumni, and not just the Madison medalists. As columnist Gregg Lange '70 notes, they "have served to deepen the understanding of the undergrads and, perhaps most crucially, attract the legendary teaching faculty that distinguishes Princeton from any peer institution on the planet." Photo by Brett Tomlinson for PAW. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Columnist Gregg Lange '70 looks at Pablo Picasso’s Head of a Woman, the cubist sculpture on the south end of campus that holds symbolic weight for Princeton in the 20th century. Plus, from the side, it resembles a tiger. Photo © Ricardo Barros 2011. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

As the magazine turns its focus to books for January's Special Issue, columnist Gregg Lange '70 examines the 1896 novel "A Princetonian: A Story of Undergraduate Life at the College of New Jersey," by Col. Jim Barnes 1891. Photos in this podcast are courtesy of Lange and from the PAW Archives. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

In December 1951, Edwin McMillan *33 earned the Nobel Prize in chemistry, one of many Princetonians so honored. The following day, Dick Kazmaier '52 received the Heisman Trophy, becoming the first -- and only -- Tiger to win. In columnist Gregg Lange '70's view, Kazmaier's heroics and the undefeated 1951 football season marked a final moment of glory for Princeton as a national power in the sport it helped to create. Photos in this podcast are from the PAW Archives. For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Columnist Gregg Lange '70 remembers a defining story of Princeton in the Cold War 1970s: John Aristotle Phillips '78's explosive term paper on how to build a nuclear bomb for $2,000. Photos in this podcast are courtesy of The Daily Princetonian Larry DuPraz Digital Archives (Team of Destiny, Fritz Crisler, U.S. Army recruits) and the Princeton Alumni Weekly archives (coeducation, Phillips, Mushroom). For more Web Exclusives, visit paw.princeton.edu.

Columnist Gregg Lange '70 offers an appreciation of Ella Fitzgerald, who came full circle at Princeton, from her first performance on campus, at a fall dance in 1936, to her final bow, when she received an honorary degree at Commencement in 1990. As the degree citation said, Fitzgerald's voice was "as flexibly virtuosic as an instrument and as warmly human as she." (Photo by William Gottleib, courtesy of the Library of Congress)

To be even marginally successful, an institution of higher education must ceaselessly change, to the extent that whenever things are comfy, we should consider openly whether they are changing fast enough. Photos courtesy of the Princeton University Archives (Fred Fox '39, Sue-Jean Lee Suettinger '70); and the Office of Communications (She Roars).