The Historical Society of Princeton is presenting a program by The Princeton Recollectors at 7 p.m. at Princeton University on Wednesday, April 13. It will be held in Auditorium 104 of the Computer Sciences Building.
The Recollectors Eric J. Endersby, Jeff Macechak and Tari Panteleo are the co-editors of a monthly magazine known as The Recollector, produced between 1975 and 1985. The publication was chockful of folklore, oral history, legends, tales, traditions, photographs, recipes and other documentation relating to the history of Princeton.
The Recollector was part of the Princeton History Project. Begun three decades ago, it was dedicated to collecting, preserving and presenting memories as a resource for future study. On April 13, the editors will offer memories of The Recollector, slides from the Princeton History Project’s photo archives, and excerpts from the project’s oral histories. The audience will be asked to share experiences of The Recollector and of Princeton during the last 30 years.
The program is part of a yearlong celebration of The Recollector. The editors recently donated their collections of artifacts, photographs, correspondence, oral history tapes and other archival materials to the Historical Society’s permanent collection.
An exhibition, "Princeton Recollections," is currently on view through August at Bainbridge House. The exhibition recreates the creative chaos of The Recollector office, where a door was used as a work table, and shows issues of the magazine being prepared for printing.
Some of the themes covered in the publication and reflected in the exhibit are first person memories of the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping in nearby Hopewell and of famed physicist Albert Einstein (a newly acquired chair from his former home is on exhibit); and the music of Princeton-born Donald Lambert (the "Unknown Genius of Stride Piano").
Other topics featured in the exhibition include a reunion of people who attended one-room schoolhouses in Cedar Grove, Mount Lucas, Mount Rose and Stony Brook; dioramas of Princeton buildings by librarian Vinton Duffield, and objects from family businesses like the Grenelle Apothecary, the Princeton Nursery and Princeton Fuel Oil Company. Audio stations provide the original voices of some of the oral history interviewees; excerpts from Orson Welles’ "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, set in nearby Grover’s Mill, and Donald Lambert’s musical performances.
Richard D. Smith, a journalist, historical researcher, and administrator at Princeton University, served as guest curator for the Historical Society exhibition.
The show was funded in part by the New Jersey Historical Commission of the New Jersey Department of State and by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The museum, located at Bainbridge House, 158 Nassau St., is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
For information, call (609) 921-6748.
