Stand Up, Speak Out: Princeton’s Citizens Find Their Voice
Exhibition at Bainbridge House, Historical Society of Princeton
September 3 through June 2009

The exhibition Stand Up, Speak Out is inspired by the national elections of fall 2008, and historic, pivotal moments in the struggles for voting rights, including Congress coming to Princeton in 1783; the aftermath of women's suffrage in the early and mid-20th century; African-American voting rights and civil rights in the 1960s; and university student activism in the late 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition is on view at the Historical Society of Princeton’s headquarters, Bainbridge House, 158 Nassau Street, Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 4:00 p.m. For more information visit www.princetonhistory.org.

The Boudinot’s and the Washingtons
Gallery tour and lecture at Morven Museum & Garden
Thursday, September 4, 2:30 p.m.

Curator of Exhibitions Anne Gossen addresses the close friendship between Elias Boudinot, president of Congress in Princeton, and General George Washington. The two exchanged many emotional letters about the plight of the soldiers under their care. Their families also formed close bonds when Martha Washington resided in New Jersey. Boudinot hosted Washington for his final dinner en route to his inauguration as the first president of the United States. Gossen interprets these and other connections between the families through the portraits and significant objects on view, among them a mirror given by the Washingtons to the Boudinot family and currently installed in a period room of Boudinot’s furnishings.

“In Whatever Situation I May Be”: Martha Washington, General’s Wife
Rocky Hill First Reformed Church, Rocky Hill, NJ
Sunday, September 7, 3 p.m.

Martha Washington, wife of the General, accompanied him throughout much of the Revolutionary War and came with him to Rockingham. Pat Jordan, from the American Historical Theater, portrays Mrs. Washington, the General’s closest confidant and helpmeet, and talks about being the wife of the Commander-in-Chief. Sponsored by the Rockingham Association for Rockingham State Historic Site. For more information visit www.rockingham.net.

“Never Rise to Speak Till You Have Something to Say”: Meet Rev. Witherspoon
Kingston Presbyterian Church, Kingston, NJ
Saturday, September 20, 2 p.m. 

The Reverend Doctor John Witherspoon was a delegate to the Congress from New Jersey, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) in 1783. George Luck, local resident, portrays him reciting excerpts from one of his sermons and talking about his life as a minister, teacher, and legislator. Sponsored by the Rockingham Association for Rockingham State Historic Site. For more information visit www.rockingham.net.

General George Washington: Political Thinker
Lecture by Thomas Fleming
Sponsored by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
Location – to be announced
Thursday, September 18, 8 p.m.

Historian Thomas Fleming, author of The Perils of Peace: America’s Struggle for Survival after Yorktown (2007), talks about George Washington in the context of his final year as commander in chief of the Continental Art. Fleming discusses Washington’s response when Congress sent his soldiers home unpaid and the general’s role as political thinker. Free and open to the public. For more information contact eschneck@princeton.edu or info@morven.org, or call 609-924-8144, ext. 106.

1783: The Confederation Congress Comes to Princeton
Lecture co-sponsored by Center of Theological Inquiry/Morven Museum & Garden
Presented at Center of Theological Inquiry, Stockton Street
Sunday, September 21, 2.p.m.
Advance reservations required.

John M. Murrin, Ph.D. taught American colonial and revolutionary history at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at Princeton University. He has published numerous essays on the social, religious, political and legal history of the colonies and early republic and is the co-author of Liberty, Equality, and Power: A History of the American People. In this lecture Dr. Murrin brings his extraordinary knowledge to the subject of Congress in Princeton. Seating is limited and advance reservations are required.

 

• 1783 exhibition Picturing Princeton (Morven)
• Drumthwacket tours
• 1783 walking tours (Historical Society of Princeton)
• 1783 teas (Morven)
• Princeton University tours
• School programs (Morven)
• Children’s Passport to Princeton History in 1783: Finding George Washington

• Princeton Public Library programs
  
• Historic science experiment
• Westminster Choir College summer music
• Princeton University Art Museum