History

Arron Burr

story by Ellen Gilbert

Princeton University figures prominently in accounts of Burr’s life. According to Alexander Leitch’s A Princeton Companion, Burr was thought to be one of the most brilliant students to graduate from Princeton University in the eighteenth century. His father was Princeton’s second president; his maternal grandfather, Jonathan Edwards, was Princeton’s third president. He entered the sophomore class at Princeton at the age of thirteen and graduated with distinction at sixteen in 1772.

Many years and adventures later, Burr was buried in Princeton Cemetery with full military honors. His grave is located in the President’s Lot, at the foot of the graves of his father and grandfather.

In addition to ownership of a splendid portrait of Burr and a copy of his death mask, Burr’s continued presence on campus is insured by having a building named in his honor: Aaron Burr Hall is currently home to the University’s Anthropology Department, Latin American Studies Program, the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, and the Russian Studies Program.  The Library’s Manuscript Division is home to a collection of letters from Burr to his family and associates.  

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