In honor of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150^th birthday this June, the Historical Society of Princeton opened its newest display Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: The Architect in Princeton at its Concert Under the Stars benefit on June 10, 2017. The exhibition features architectural drawings by Wright from the Historical Society’s collection, telling the story of Wright’s sole Princeton clients and the Frank Lloyd Wright house that could have been.

After visiting Wright at Taliesin West, his winter home and studio, Princeton residents Mr. and Mrs. Bradford Mills asked the architect to design a house for their property off Pretty Brook Road. Two designs were completed between 1955 and 1957, but, due to high costs, the project was eventually abandoned and the house never constructed. Two drawings that remain (an elevation and floorplan) will be on display at the Updike Farmstead through the end of the year.

The Historical Society of Princeton is just one of many sites currently honoring Frank Lloyd Wright in his 150^th year. Often considered America’s greatest architect, Wright designed over 1,000 structures throughout his seven-decade career. Only 532 of these designs were ever completed, but they include some of the most iconic buildings of the 20^th century, such as Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum.

The museum at Updike Farmstead is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 12PM to 4PM, with free hours on Thursday evenings until 7PM. Admission is four dollars.

Saturday, June 24, 2017
Greenway Meadows Park
FREE

Calling all baseball-lovers and history-buffs: the Historical Society of Princeton will present its annual 19th century baseball game on Saturday, June 24, starting at 11:00 a.m. at Greenway Meadows Park, 275 Rosedale Road, Princeton. The event is free and open to all; spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets.

Part game, part show, part history lesson and ALL fun, the Flemington Neshanock and the Talbot Fairplays Base Ball Club of Maryland will play a competitive match of bare-handed baseball, wearing period uniforms and using rules from 1864 or 1873. The event will also include a short lesson on the history of the game and a recitation of “Casey at the Bat” by Brad “Brooklyn” Shaw.

This year marks the 8^th year the Historical Society has sponsored this event. “It’s a fun event for the whole family,” said Eve Mandel, Director of Programs and Visitor Services. “You can see how the game evolved over time. The ‘ballists’ (players) answer questions about the rules, and sometimes ‘cranks’ (spectators) get a chance to play.”

Princeton’s 4^th annual Ciclovia was held on Sunday, May 21, 2017. This free annual event promotes healthy, active living by closing Quaker Road to vehicles and opening it for people to exercise, play, and learn. Families can run, walk, skate, and ride bikes along the route.

New this year was Chasing George, a 10-mile bike ride along the D&R Canal State Park path, in the spirit of the route Washington took the morning of January 3, 1777 to fight in what became the Battle of Princeton. Participants departed the Douglass House at Mill Hill Park in Trenton, and followed a George Washington reenactor to Quaker Road in Princeton along the D&R Canal State Park trail. Historical talks by Jeff Laurenti and Roger Williams anchored the start and end of the ride.

In addition, a longer 40-mile Chasing George All Around bike ride, organized by the Princeton Free Wheelers Bicycle Club and Greater Mercer TMA, started at REI and included historical talks at Lawrenceville, Pennington and Washington Crossing State Park, courtesy of Paul Larsen of the Lawrence Historical Society and Larry Kidder of the Hopewell Valley Historical Society.

This was a true community event, made possible by the Historical Society of Princeton, Princeton Bicycle Advisory Committee, Greater Mercer TMA, East Coast Greenway, Princeton Freewheelers, Princeton Battlefield Society, Crossroads of the American Revolution, and Washington Crossing Historic Park. Business partners were Hart’s Cyclery and REI.

The Historical Society of Princeton invites Members and friends to the 2017 Annual Meeting and Lewis B. Cuyler Lecture, to be held at the Nassau Club on Wednesday, March 8, at 7 PM.

With the recent one-year anniversary of the organization’s move to Updike Farmstead, this year the Historical Society will be highlighting New Jersey’s agricultural history with a lecture focusing on farmland preservation in the state.

It may surprise some to know that New Jersey—the most urbanized and densely populated state in the nation—is a leader in farmland preservation. Rutgers University’s Brian Schilling will discuss the history and impact of farmland preservation in the state, pointing out notable milestones over the program’s 34-year existence and its significance as a strategy to protect New Jersey’s rich agricultural heritage (and future). Important issues facing farmland preservation and the farmers that operate the land will be highlighted.

Brian Schilling is an Associate Extension Specialist of Agricultural Policy within Rutgers Cooperative Extension and Associate Professor of agricultural, food and resource economics at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University. During his 23 years at the School, much of Dr. Schilling’s research has been focused on New Jersey farm viability, farmland preservation, and agricultural economic development at the urban-rural fringe. 

The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited; please RSVP to the Historical Society at 609.921.6748 x105 or kristen@princetonhistory.org.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

7:00p.m.

Updike Farmstead, 354 Quaker Road, Princeton

FREE

In honor of George Washington’s birthday, the Historical Society of Princeton and the Princeton Battlefield Society are pleased to present an illustrated talk by author David Veasey on New Jersey’s wide variety of colonial architecture.

The state’s rich and diverse architectural heritage reflects its early European settlers, each of whom brought their own building traditions with them. Recognized as the most varied in the nation, these colonists hailed from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, France, Ireland, Scotland, and a number of English regions.

Local buildings featured in the program include Rockingham, Nassau Hall, MacLean House, Bainbridge House, Morven, Thomas Clarke House, and the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville. The evening will begin with a brief history of Washington’s ties to these structures during the American Revolution.

The program is free and open to the public. Registration is required, as space is limited; RSVP to eve@princetonhistory.org or call (609) 921-6748 x102.

Copies of Mr. Veasey’s book, New Jersey’s Colonial Architecture Told in 100 Buildings, will be available for $20.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: David Veasey was raised in Chatham, NJ and has spent most of his life in the state. He now lives in Morris Plains. He has a longtime interest in the state’s architecture, including its lighthouses, which are shown and discussed in his book Guarding New Jersey’s Shore Lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations. He also wrote the well-received book, New Jersey Then & Now. He has a BA from Drew University and a MA from New York University. He has worked his entire career as a writer and journalist, publishing articles about New Jersey for The New York Times and on Madison Avenue, the United Nations and finance.

Thursday, October 6, 2016
5:00 PM

You’ve never seen Einstein like this! Corinne Maier and Anne Simon’s graphic novel explores the life of the most influential physicist of all time. This biography features a caricature version of Einstein, who narrates and comments on the story of his life.

In conjunction with the exhibition The Einstein Salon and Innovators Gallery, the Historical Society is thrilled to host the illustrator, Anne Simon, at the Updike Farmstead museum, 354 Quaker Road, on Thursday, October 6 at 5 PM. Ms. Simon will share the steps of her artistic process to create her “own” Einstein.

In addition, at 4 pm, a pre-talk conservation will be broadcast live on the official Albert Einstein Facebook page. The video will also be available online for later viewing.

Free, with book signing to follow. Labyrinth Books will be on site to sell copies of Einstein.

ANNE SIMON was born in 1980 in France. She studied in the Beaux-Arts in Angoulême, and then in the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, one of the most prestigious art schools in France. In 2004, she received the “New Talent” prize at the Angoulême festival, and she released her first comic book Persephone in the Underworld in 2006.

The Historical Society of Princeton (HSP) is pleased to announce the hiring of Stephanie Schwartz as Curator of Collections and Research.

Stephanie joined the staff of the Historical Society in June 2012, previously serving as Research Assistant and Admissions Associate. As Curator, Stephanie now oversees all collections management operations at HSP, including maintaining the catalogue and online database, supervising the care and conservation of the collection, and fielding acquisitions in line with HSP’s collecting priorities. Stephanie works with the Executive Director to develop museum and travelling exhibitions, and continues to manage HSP’s research services and assist with educational programming.

“During her time at the Historical Society, Stephanie has delved deeply into HSP’s collection to assist hundreds of researchers, scholars, and residents in answering their Princeton history questions,” said Executive Director Izzy Kasdin.

“Stephanie will carry her incredibly intimate knowledge of HSP’s collection into this new role at the Historical Society. We have big plans for making HSP’s extensive collection a more accessible, engaging, and enriching resource for the Princeton community, and we are so thrilled that Stephanie will be applying her expertise to those priorities. She is a keen researcher, a passionate historian, and a superb archivist; she is perfect for the job and will certainly hit the ground running!”

Stephanie earned her BA in History and a certificate in Museum Studies at Connecticut College. She recently received her MS in Archives Management from Simmons College. Stephanie has also worked at HBO, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the New Jersey State Archives, and the Mercer County Library System.

Gillett G. Griffin has made a significant gift to the Historical Society of Princeton of over 50 pieces of material related to Albert Einstein, previously in his personal collection.

Griffin was formerly the Curator of Pre-Columbian Art at the Princeton University Art Museum. He had been a personal friend of Einstein’s from 1953 until Einstein’s death in 1955, frequenting Einstein’s home on 112 Mercer Street, where he also became acquainted with the physicist’s stepdaughter Margot Einstein and friend and confidante, Johanna (Hanna) Fantova.

The collection gifted to the Historical Society includes several personal belongings and accoutrements of Einstein’s, including a drawing of Gandhi that used to hang in Einstein’s study and three small handheld puzzle games that Einstein reportedly used to thrust into the hands of acquaintances to solve upon first meeting them. The collection also includes Einstein’s compass – Einstein explained that his interest in physics arose from compasses he played with as a child – and Einstein’s pipe. The only other intact pipe of Einstein’s that is on public display is in the Smithsonian Institution, and it is the most heavily requested object for research and loans in the Institution’s Modern Physics Collection, according to the Collection’s Curator. Gillett received the puzzles and pipe as a gift directly from Margot.

The collection also contains the original snapshot, bequeathed to Griffin by Jeanette Mirsky, of Einstein sitting on his Mercer Street porch wearing large fuzzy slippers, as well as the only known self-portrait of Einstein. The drawing, scrawled on a sheet of equations, features Hanna Fantova on a beach, holding an umbrella and smoking a cigarette, with Einstein’s face beside her. Above his head is the exclamation, “Ich hab’s!!,” which translates to, “I’ve got it!” Fantova gave the sketch to Griffin as a gift in 1955, the year of Einstein’s death, because “she thought he would like the design,” according to Griffin.

Griffin’s gift supplements HSP’s preexisting Einstein holdings, which include the Einstein Furniture Collection, 65 pieces of furniture that eluded the Nazis and used to adorn Einstein’s home at 112 Mercer Street. The Institute for Advanced Study donated the furniture to the Historical Society in 2004.

Several of the pieces in the Gillett Griffin Collection had been on long-term loan and display at HSP for over a decade. “Gillett has been a dear friend of the Historical Society for many years and we are so unbelievably honored that he has given us the privilege of interpreting his fantastic Einstein collections long into the future,” said HSP Executive Director, Izzy Kasdin. “We are confident they will greatly enhance the permanent place Albert Einstein has in our exhibition program at Updike Farmstead and will help make HSP the destination for Einstein enthusiasts in the United States.”

“I am very pleased to have made this gift at this time, and I am confident that the Princeton Historical Society is the right place to house these items,” said Griffin.

The photographs, manuscript material, sculptures, books, newspaper clippings, personal possessions, and ephemera that comprise the collection will be featured in the Historical Society’s permanent Einstein Salon and Innovators Gallery and can be made available for public research by appointment.

“Albert Einstein was, of course, a remarkable and world-changing scientist, a humanitarian activist, and cultural icon, but he was also a resident of Princeton, and spent 22 years of his life here. At HSP, we try to touch on Einstein as a resident and as a person in a way that only a local Princeton institution can,” said HSP Trustee and Vice President of Collections, Daniel Scheid. “We are proud to have the remarkable collections and personal possessions of Einstein here at the Historical Society that enable us to share Einstein’s human story – his day-to-day life – with the world.”

After an extensive search, The Historical Society of Princeton has announced the selection of Isabel (Izzy) Kasdin, currently the organization’s Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, as the organization’s new Executive Director. Izzy received her BA in History at Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude and earning the Laurence Hutton Prize in History. She also earned the Moses Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest award conferred on an undergraduate student at Princeton University, recognizing a student’s exceptional academic performance, extracurricular leadership, and overall strength of character.

Following her graduation from Princeton, Izzy earned her Masters in Archaeological Heritage and Museums at the University of Cambridge in England as a Gates Scholar. Izzy has also had experience working in a number of other historical organizations and museums, including the Ford’s Theater Society in Washington, D.C. and the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. She completed her archaeological field school training in Colonial American material culture at the College of William and Mary in 2011.

“After reviewing a broad pool of talented candidates, we concluded that the person with the most compelling combination of experience, energy, and vision was already working inside the organization,” said Scott Sipprelle, President of the HSP Board of Trustees. “Izzy is very much a known quantity here at HSP, having served the organization since 2007 in a variety of roles including Docent, researcher, and exhibitions assistant,” said Sipprelle.

“As Curator, Izzy has provided the insight of an historian and the rigor of an academic to the review and formal inventory of HSP’s important collections currently underway,” said Daniel C. Scheid, Vice President of Collections and a member of the Search Committee. “In her new role, she will use her creativity to link these collections not only to the past but to the exciting history that is being made in Princeton today.”

“I firmly believe in the importance of local history in building community, promoting empathy, and enhancing sense of place,” said Kasdin. “It is an immense honor to lead the charge on these goals at the Historical Society of Princeton, in my own home town. I am bursting with innovative ideas about how we can use our fantastic collections and beautiful farm site to develop diverse public programming that pushes the boundaries of the traditional local history museum model.”