Princeton Alumni Weekly: Goin' Backstory

In the final installment of Goin' Backstory, Gregg Lange ’70 and Brett Tomlinson discuss the 2016-17 academic year at Princeton and the news stories that future historians may revisit.

May has us thinking about Reunions, and two of this year’s “major” classes: the 50th reunion class, 1967, and the 75th, 1942. Both left college in a world that was much different than the one they’d known as freshmen. Also in this episode, we talk about Gregg’s new column on free speech at Princeton and Gregory Heyworth *01’s use of imaging science to restore damaged documents.

With two members of the Class of 1939 featured in PAW’s April 12 issue (Lem Billings and Henry Morgenthau III), we decided to take a closer look at the class, which included John F. Kennedy (for one semester), Fred Fox, Bud Wynne, Bob Dicke, Walter Lord, and the elusive Ephraim di Kahble. Also mentioned in this podcast: Morgenthau’s undergraduate days and the infamous Veterans of Future Wars.

With the first Ivy League Tournament complete and the Tiger men set to start play in the NCAA Tournament tomorrow, we look back at two great Princeton teams: the 1966-67 Tigers, featured in a new PAW Online story, a team Gregg has argued (in two columns) may be the best in program history; and Pete Carril’s 1976-77 team, which beat Notre Dame at Jadwin Gym. Also discussed in this episode: revered Princetonian William K. Selden ’34, and the first Ivy women’s basketball tournament, featured on a recent episode of PAW Tracks.

In this month’s look at Princeton history and recent PAW stories, we speak about the Lives Lived and Lost issue, make note of the University Press Club’s remarkable history, highlight the Service of Remembrance, look ahead to Alumni Day, and more.

“Translation is, we’re told, something that’s supposed to be invisible,” Shelley Frisch *81 tells PAW’s Carrie Compton. “I don’t think that that’s so. I think that a translator needs to inject a voice into a text in order to make it live. It shouldn’t read like plain vanilla translation-ese.” Frisch explains her work translating biographies from German to English and the specific case of Reiner Stach’s three-part Franz Kafka biography. Also, in an abbreviated version of our regular discussion of Princeton history, Brett Tomlinson and Gregg Lange ’70 talk about the 1960s critical languages program and a modern-day analog.

In this edition of our monthly history podcast, Gregg Lange ’70 surveys the Princeton campus during wartime, we look at just how much dirt was moved to make Lake Carnegie possible, and we talk about books, including the list of titles that Princeton’s president sent to soldiers serving in World War II.

In the November episode, we talk with Melanie Kirkpatrick ’73, author of Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience, about the holiday’s history, including a few Princeton connections. Also, Gregg Lange ’70 recalls the contributions of William Bowen *58, the former Princeton president, provost, and professor, who died last month.

In the October episode, we talk with Kathy Kiely ’77, an editor at Public Square Media, about the nine Princeton alumni who’ve run for president, representing nearly every part of the American political spectrum. Columnist Gregg Lange ’70 shares his thoughts on recent PAW stories about the beginning of coeducation and a 19th century standoff between students and librarians. And sports editor Brett Tomlinson does his best to avoid ranking the greatest athletes in Princeton history.

In the first episode with our new monthly format, we talk with April Armstrong *14 of Mudd Library about a Princeton history game on Twitter (interview starts at 11:33), recap the Pre-rade from the perspective of this year’s grandparent class, and highlight a few history connections in the Sept. 14 issue of the magazine.