Exterior of Firestone Library. (Photo by Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications, Princeton University)

A Ten-Year Renovation Transforms Princeton’s Firestone Library

By Donald H. Sanborn III

“We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different languages,” Albert Einstein is quoted as saying. “The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend but only dimly suspects.”

A 1941 photo of Einstein in his study is on display in the new Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery of Princeton University’s Firestone Library, which is across from the University Chapel. The University has completed its ten-year renovation of Firestone, which was “focused on creating a building that is well-suited to support modern library services and contemporary approaches to scholarship, while also providing inspiring, flexible study and work spaces,” the University states in a press release. more

Princeton University Endowment Outpaces Ivies As Princo Seeks to “Invest Well” and “Do Good”

By Donald Gilpin

“Invest Well. Do Good,” reads the headline on the website of the Princeton University Investment Company (Princo), which manages most of the University’s $25.9 billion endowment, the largest endowment per student in the country and one of the five largest overall.

Recent results for the endowment — a 14.2 percent investment gain for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2018 — and its support of an increasing share — 55 percent for 2018-19 — of the University’s annual budget indicate that Princo has indeed been investing well and doing good. more

Kinder, Gentler, and Community-Oriented

By Anne Levin | Photographs by Charles R. Plohn

Last February, Princeton Council approved a settlement of $3.925 million in a lawsuit with seven members of the Princeton Police Department. Filed in 2013, the suit accused police chief David Dudeck of harassment, discrimination, and creating a hostile work environment. The town did not admit any liability, and the plaintiffs agreed to not file another suit.

The settlement marked the end of an unsavory chapter in the history of law enforcement in Princeton. But things have actually been on the upswing since 2015, when former police captain Nicholas Sutter was promoted to replace Dudeck, who was permitted to retire soon after the suits were filed.

A different culture that began to emerge then appears to now be firmly in place. Transparency, diversity, an openness to change, and respect are the department’s core values.  While nine officers have retired over the past few years, new recruits — several of whom are under 30 — come from a variety of non-traditional backgrounds. Of the 61 officers now on the force, six speak Spanish. One speaks Mandarin. Six are African American, including the first black woman officer in the department’s history. There is an officer dedicated to LGBTQ issues.

“It’s not just ethnicity or gender,” says Sutter. “It’s also about backgrounds. We have former teachers, former members of the military. We even have some talented musicians. There is a vast level of experience here that we might not have seen before.” more

East Point Lighthouse

(And they make great day trips!)

By Wendy Greenberg

A gleaming white lighthouse, capped with red, towers over a strip of land at Sandy Hook, between Sandy Hook Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The lighthouse has been standing there since it was built in 1764.

“Think about that,” muses Carol Winkie, president of the New Jersey Lighthouse Society (NJLHS). “Sandy Hook Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in the United States, was built before the United States was a country.” Sandy Hook is the lone survivor of the Eastern Seaboard Colonial lighthouses.

The lighthouses of New Jersey that stand today are beacons of maritime history. It is a quirky history, and a fascinating one. The “ABCs” (Absecon, Barnegat, and Cape May) were designed by George G. Meade, a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg. Finn’s Point Rear Range Lighthouse was built in Buffalo, N.Y., shipped by railroad, and pulled on wagons by mules to Supawana Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in 1877. The Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse sits in a football practice field in Paulsboro.

And, sadly, the original 1868 Tucker’s Island Lighthouse, a white tower with red trim, went into the sea in 1927, and soon after the entire island, formerly a resort, was wiped out. A replica stands today. more