Princeton Magazine, Fall 2024 by Witherspoon Media Group

fall 2024 Belle

da Costa Greene

Overcoming Racism, Sexism, and Classism in the Gilded Age

Volvo

Belle of the Books BY ILENE DUBE

Overcoming Racism, Sexism, and Classism in the Gilded Age 12

All Birds, All the time BY TaYLor SmITh Live Bird Cams Bring the Outside In 22

exploring historic princeton cemetery BY LaUrIE pELLIchEro

“The Westminster Abbey of the United States” 32

reseArch center reimAgined BY aNNE LEvIN

The Renovated Center of Theological Inquiry Lets in the Light 42

on the coVer: Belle da Costa Greene by paul helleu, 1913. Black, white, and red chalk on paper. (The Morgan Library & Museum; Bequest of Belle da Costa Greene, 1950)

Book scene BY STUarT mITchNEr

The People’s House: A Peek Inside the Home of the President and First Family 52 from cAfeteriAs to cUlinAry meccAs BY WENDY GrEENBErG How College Dining Has Evolved 58

princeton gArden theAtre BY DoNaLD h. SaNBorN III

Historic Movie House Celebrates 10 Years as a Nonprofit 68

A Well-designed life BY LYNN aDamS SmITh 78, 80

J. Robert Hillier, Lh.D., FAIA

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Lynn Adams Smith

OPERATIONS

Melissa Bilyeu

Jeffrey Edward Tryon

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Vaughan Burton

PHOTOGRAPHER

Jeffrey Edward Tryon

EDITOR

Laurie Pellichero

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Ilene Dube

Wendy Greenberg

Anne Levin

Stuart Mitchner

Donald H. Sanborn III

Taylor Smith

ACCOUNT MANAGERS

Jennifer Covill

Tracey Sugar

A SEAFOOD REVOLUTION HAS ARRIVED IN PENNINGTON, NJ.

Union Boil, the latest culinary sensation by Gretalia Hospitality Group and Martin Food Group, is set to make a splash in the Pennington Shopping Center. We're bringing a new wave of seafood dining to New Jersey, where every meal is a celebration of flavors and community.

A SEAFOOD REVOLUTION HAS ARRIVED IN PENNINGTON, NJ.

Union Boil, the latest culinary sensation by Gretalia Hospitality Group and Martin Food Group, is set to make a splash in the Pennington Shopping Center We're bringing a new wave of seafood dining to New Jersey, where every meal is a celebration of flavors and community.

DISCOVER THE ITALIAN RITUAL AT APERITIVO BAR!

Embark on a journey to the heart of Italy with Aperitivo Bar, yet another fantastic addition to the Gretalia Hospitality Group and Martin Food Group, nestled in the Pennington Shopping Center.

Indulge in our meticulously crafted cocktails and aperitifs, each a masterpiece of flavor, designed to awaken your senses.

Follow us for the latest updates. Be the first to experience Pennington's newest gem. LEARN MORE AND SEE THE MENUS AT GETFORKY.COM

Located in the Pennington Shopping Center! 25 Route 31 S., Pennington, NJ 08534

Dear Readers,

Welcome to your Fall issue of Princeton Magazine . Very much like the previous issue, it features articles about Princeton but also demonstrates the historic impact of this small town on the nation.

Our cover story is about the amazing Belle da Costa Greene who, just by happenstance, seems to have been written for this year’s presidential election. Just imagine a Black woman living the lie that she is white in a world that, at the time, was very much tied up in racism, sexism, and classism.

Ilene Dube tells the fascinating story of how she started her career as a reference librarian in the Princeton University Library, and at the age of 26 became John Pierpont Morgan’s personal librarian and later the inaugural director for his beautiful McKim, Mead, and White-designed Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. The museum will present “Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy,” a major exhibition devoted to her life and career, opening on October 25.

In Stuart Mitchner’s Book Scene, you will be intrigued by his collection of books about the White House, including The First White House Library and A Garden for the President.

Speaking of gardens, did you ever wonder how the Princeton Garden Theatre got its name? Over 100 years ago, it was built on the site of the former garden of Bainbridge House, which today is home to the Princeton University Art Museum’s Art@Bainbridge.

As much as we like seeing change, there is reassurance in the stability of the historic Princeton Cemetery. As Editor Laurie Pellichero notes, besides being a major green space in the center of town, it is the final resting place of many national figures including U.S. President Grover Cleveland, most past presidents of Princeton University, and notables such as Paul Tulane, among others. Tulane made a fortune manufacturing uniforms for the Civil War and was turned down in his plea to have the University named after him in trade for his fortune. His monument purposefully has its back facing Nassau Hall.

While touring the cemetery and reading all the fascinating headstones, you may notice that there are a lot of birds. Taylor Smith has written an article about the popularity of live bird cams, some of the best being offered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which my firm happened to have designed. It is located specifically in a wetland because of its attraction to many of our feathered friends.

Writer Donald H. Sanborn III’s article focuses on the history of the theater, which is now celebrating its 10th anniversary as a nonprofit. Art Director Jeff Tryon’s last two pages of the article feature an array of some of the famous movies that have graced the screen at the Garden Theatre, framed in a dramatic rendition of movie film.

The original ticket booth was where a poster-emblazoned kiosk now sits on Nassau Street. In one of the theater’s many renovations, it was moved to its current location at its entry.

The Center of Theological Inquiry is another project that has involved a constructed renovation. The unpretentious building directly across from the Morven Museum & Garden looks the same except for a new entry on the back, but in a fascinating addition by MGA, formerly Michael Graves’ firm, there is an explosion of openness that brings light into all three levels of the building.

Anne Levin tells us how the former dark corridors lined with closed doors have been transformed into an array of open spaces for meetings, discussion, and even large-scale gatherings as the organization moves into the future.

Taylor also points out that Duke Farms, right in our own backyard, is home to about 247 species of birds. Their 24/7 live eagle cam provides outstanding images of eagles and their day-to-day activities.

After all of this “touring,” you must be hungry! This becomes the perfect finale to our stories as we explore Princeton University’s dining halls, which are a long way from the cafeterias of earlier days. Writer Wendy Greenberg introduces us to the Campus Dining team of gourmet chefs and their leaders.

I always enjoy the “Well-Designed Life” pages that our Editor in Chief Lynn Adams Smith puts together. Lynn pays great attention to the colors and design of the spreads so you enjoy viewing the products that she has selected.

Lynn and I hope you enjoy this issue as you get to know more about your wonderful town of Princeton. Also, please make it a point to vote. It is probably the most important election in our 248 years as a democracy.

Respectfully yours,

J. Robert Hillier, Lh.D., FAIA Publisher

n Choose from brand new or lightly used equipment

n If your kids outgrow their boots, during the season, we re-fit at no charge

n We carry only the best quality premium brands & models FOR SKI: Volkl, Nordica, Tecnica, Blizzard, Atomic, Dynastar & Rossignol FOR SNOWBOARD: Burton, K2, Ride, Salomon, Union, Rossignol & Jones

Paul Helleu (1859–1927), Belle da Costa Greene, 1913. Black, white, and red chalk on paper.

(The Morgan Library & Museum; Bequest of Belle da Costa Greene, 1950)

Belle of the Books overcoming Racism, sexism, and Classism In the Gilded Age

Asthe personal librarian to financier J.P. Morgan, Belle da Costa Greene was one of the most influential people in the art and book world. She was courted by dealers, embraced by the socially powerful, and profiled for her accomplishments at a time when working women were rare.

Even before women won the right to vote, Greene was one of the most prominent career women of the early 20th century. She pursued and curated a collection of rare books, manuscripts, and art that became world-renowned. She was regarded as an authority on illuminated manuscripts, and because of her work, the Morgan Library became known as a collection of rare books, manuscripts, and art that competed with such esteemed institutions as the British Museum.

By Ilene DuBe

The fascinating story of Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950) juggling her identity and career is novelized in the New York Times bestselling The Personal Librarian (2021), written by Heather Terrell (writing as Marie Benedict) and Victoria Christopher Murray. While certain details are fictionalized, The Personal Librarian is rooted in historical truths.

“[When I] read about Belle da Costa Greene, I knew what she was going through,” said Murray, who is Black, in

are certain stories that deserve to have a storyteller who has had those experiences themselves or had similar.”

Adds Murray: “I do not believe that a Black woman could have done justice to Belle, just as I believe a white woman couldn’t have done her justice either. We had to find a way to blend these two lives together for her, and that’s what I think we did.”

At the end of the day, says Terrell, “when Belle put her head down on her pillow, she was a Black woman.”

Known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works, the fixture of New York society was also stylish and beautiful. In photos she can be seen wearing feathered hats and fur stoles. None other than Marcel Duchamp created a work of art on a small perfume bottle that he named for her.

But Greene closeted a burning secret: She was passing as white.

a Washington Post interview. “I knew that every day she went out of her house wearing a mask. I knew all the questions and things that she had to have inside, but she couldn’t ask out loud.”

“It did not feel right or appropriate for me to try and tell the story of a Black woman without a Black woman,” said Terrell, who is white, in the same interview. “I think, as an author of fiction, you can envision a lot. But there

The story of Belle da Costa Greene might still be buried in a library if Murray and Terrell had not brought it to life. In 2022, Al Roker Entertainment optioned the book for a limited series or film. And to mark the centenary of its life as a public institution, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City will present “Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy,” a major exhibition devoted to the life and career of its inaugural director, on view October 25 through May 4, 2025.

John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known as J.P. Morgan, his dedication to efficiency and modernization helped transform the shape of the American economy. As his

wealth grew as one of the most influential financiers in the U.S., Morgan amassed a collection of fine art which was stored, for tax purposes, in England. He also began to acquire historically important manuscripts, which were not subject to import taxes. When they overwhelmed his residential space, he began acquiring land on 36th Street near Madison Avenue.

The Morgan Library & Museum, completed in 1906, is today a complex of structures. The main building was designed by Charles McKim of McKim, Mead, and White, with an annex designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris. A 19th-century Italianate brownstone house at 231 Madison Avenue, built by Isaac Newton Phelps, is also part of the grounds. The complex includes three additional structures, including a glass entrance building designed by Renzo Piano and Beyer Blinder Belle.

The main building and its interior are a New York City designated landmark and a National Historic Landmark, while the house at 231 Madison Avenue is a designated city landmark. What was once the office of Belle da Costa Greene is now a book-lined reading room, with stone sculpture — including one in her image — and a stone fireplace.

Greene was born into a prominent family of intellectuals. Her father, Richard T. Greener, was the first Black graduate of Harvard in 1870 who went on to work as an attorney, professor, racial justice activist, and dean of the Howard University School of Law. He was a contemporary of Frederick Douglass, held diplomatic posts overseas, and was

devoted to art, books, and aesthetics, according to Daria Rose Foner, a 2011 Princeton alumna and one-time research associate to the director of the Morgan Library & Museum. Now a vice president at Sotheby’s New York, Foner — who earned a Ph.D. in art history at Columbia University — gave a talk on Greene in 2022 for the Princeton University Library.

Greene’s mother, Genevieve Fleet, came from a family of well-educated musicians — her brothers were named Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Bellini — and spent two years in a college preparatory course at Oberlin. She worked as a teacher and school principal in African American school districts. Fleet decided that the only way the fair-skinned family could cope with racism was to pass as white. Fleet went so far as to declare the family

white in the 1905 New York State Census, resulting in a rift and ultimate separation from Greener when Belle was a teenager.

“She changed their names and told them how they had to behave,” Murray said on Good Morning America.

Belle Marion Greener became Belle da Costa Greene — the da Costa part coming from a fictitious Portuguese grandmother, as that lineage would help to explain Greene’s olive complexion.

After attending the Horace Mann School for Girls in New York, Greene went to the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies in rural Massachusetts. (It has since been incorporated into the Northfield Mount Harmon School.) Her application indicated she’d wanted to be a librarian since she was a teen. She excelled at Latin and German, according to Foner. Following Northfield, she attended Amherst College’s summer school of library economy.

J. Pierpont Morgan, 1902. (Pach Bros., The Morgan Library & Museum)

The Morgan Garden, evening view looking north. (Courtesy of the Morgan Library & Museum, New York. © Brett Beyer, 2022)

J. Pierpont Morgan’s l ibrary, view from 36th Street. (Courtesy of the Morgan Library. & Museum, New York.© Brett Beyer, 2022)

Greene began working at the Princeton University Library in 1902, where she was trained in cataloguing and reference work and developed a growing knowledge of rare books.

“The phenomenon of passing is not uncommon for light-skinned African Americans confronting the rigid racial exclusions that defined Jim Crow America in the North as well as the South,” said Foner. “In most cases passing involves severing ties with one’s family. For most of Greene’s life this was not her experience. Her passing was more of an open secret. She crossed the color line with her mother and siblings.

“Had it been known that according to the American one drop definition of race that Greene was Black, she would never have been able to work at Princeton, often referred to as the Southern Ivy because of its large number of students from the former Confederacy. Princeton was an enclave of white privilege. A large number

of its buildings were named for men who owned slaves. Princeton would not graduate its first African American student until 1947.”

It was at Princeton where Greene met associate librarian and ardent

bibliophile Junius Spencer Morgan II, who introduced her to his financier uncle. At age 26, Greene was hired as J.P. Morgan’s

personal librarian, to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built library. He soon came to appreciate her intelligence and humor, and to trust her vision and expertise.

By living as a white person, she was able to live more freely, attending balls, dining at restaurants, and traveling to Europe for acquisitions.

When asked if she was Morgan’s mistress, Greene replied, “We tried!” Greene admittedly had romantic feelings for Morgan — in the novel they share a kiss — but she also saw him as a father figure. Their passion of wanting to turn the library into a one-of-a-kind institution was their greatest bond.

In 1913, J. P. Morgan left Greene $50,000 (equivalent to $1,500,000 today) in his will. She continued to work as personal librarian to J. P. Morgan Jr., and in 1924 was named director of the Pierpont Morgan Library when it became a public institution. She retired in 1948, and was called “one of the best-known librarians in the country”

J. Pierpont Morgan’s library. (The Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Graham Haber, 2014)

Biblia Latina. Mainz: Johann Gutenberg and Johann f ust, ca. 1455. (The Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Graham S. Haber)

by the New York Times after her death in 1950.

But her fame and fortune came at a cost: to protect her white identity she was cut off from some family members, and although she had lovers, she could never marry.

“I’ve always known that, because of my heritage, a traditional relationship would not be possible for me ... because a marriage means children, and that is something I cannot hazard,” the character based on Greene is quoted in The Personal Librarian . “Without the fairer skin of my siblings, I could never risk bearing a child whose skin color might reveal my deception.”

Greene, and her family’s, need to conceal their race and the lengths she had to go to protect her position and reputation speaks volumes about the prevailing racism of the time. Although she had to hide her background, Greene managed to surpass societal expectations and ascend to greater heights than most women of her time. From the opulent Gilded Age ballrooms of New York to the fiercely competitive auction

houses of Europe, she defied sexism, classism, and racism.

And yet many viewers of her photos today might wonder: How did she manage to pass? Even Murray talks about how,

whenever she posted photos of Greene and people saw her features, they thought: Of course she is Black.

Although Greene was taking the path her mother had laid out for her, she felt she was betraying her father, according to Terrell. Greener had moved to Japan, where he acquired a new family, but they shared such traits as their passion for books.

While Greene enjoyed extraordinary success and prosperity, Greener, unusually well-educated for his time and circumstance, frequently found himself out of work.

Greene destroyed her personal correspondence before her death. Obituarists alluded to rumors about her family passing for white, but she was never identified publicly as Richard Greener’s daughter until her birth certificate was discovered by biographer Jean Strouse in 1999.

Had her race been revealed in her lifetime, it would most likely have cost her her job, her social standing, and her carefully cultivated persona.

For more information about the exhibition, visit themorgan.org.

Bernard Berenson standing in front of Domenico Veneziano’s Madonna and Child , ca. 1903. (Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies)

letter from Belle da Costa Greene to Bernard Berenson, 9 april 1909. (Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies)

Belle da Costa Greene in Egyptian Costume. l aura Coombs Hills, 1859-1952 ca. 1910. Watercolor on ivory. Bequest of Belle da Costa Greene, 1950. ( The Morgan Library & Museum )

Clarence H. White (1871–1925) Belle da Costa Greene, 1911.

(Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies)

Theodore C. Marceau (1859–1922), Belle da Costa Greene, May 1911. (Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies)

Ready to get started on your kitchen or bath

renovation project?

Cranbury Design Center listens to your ideas and then uses color drawings of your space to help make your vision a reality. We assist with design decisions, cabinet, countertop and hardware selections, and finishing touches like backsplash tile and paint colors. Call or come in to see us in our showroom to get started on your remodel.

We look forward to meeting you!

145 West Ward Street,

NJ cranburydesigncenter.com | (609) 448-5600

ADROIT. AMB. ANTONELLI. ANGELA CAPUTI. AROVESCIO. BEYOND THREADS. BLINC MASCARA. CAMBIO. COMMANDO. D.EXTERIOR. ELEMENTE CLEMENTE. ESTELLE AND FINN. FRINGE MOD. HEYNE BOGUT. H+ HANNOH WESSEL. IN BED WITH YOU. KANGA. KEMPTON. KAL RIEMAN. KNIT KNIT. KOKUN. LARS ANDERSSON. LILLA P. LIVIANA CONTI. LORENZA GANDAGLIA DESIGNS. MAC. MATTHILDUR. MICHAEL GABRIEL. MORAY CASHMERE. OZONE. PIER ANTONIO GASPARI. PLANET. PORTO. SERIENUMERICA. SANTACANA MADRID. THINK ROYLN. VIVIANA UCHITEL.12 LBS.

Hedy Shepard QP.indd 1

All Birds, All the time live Bird Cams Bring the Outside in

By Taylor SmiTh

With programs like Google Earth, anyone anywhere in the world can transport themselves into another scene, another habitat, and another place. Similarly, bird cams serve as a virtual window into the lives of birds. The trend of streaming bird cams really heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people felt shut indoors and disconnected from the world around them.

Webcams showcasing divergent bird species became voyeuristic, fun, and educational.

One of the leading bird cam websites is CornellLab Bird Cams at allaboutbirds.org/ cams. Viewers can watch albatross chicks stretching their wings, elder ospreys devouring a fish, redtailed hawks curiously staring into the camera, and pileated woodpeckers (indigenous to New York state ) foraging for larvae and ants within some tree bark.

Apple Store, bird enthusiasts will get access to bird identification tools for birds from around the globe, including matching features for bird size, shape, color, geography, songs, and calls. The app will automatically create a personalized “bird list” so that you can keep track of what birds you have seen in the wild. You can also submit your findings to eBird directly

At their core, CornellLab’s webcams and free applications are meant to raise conservation, science, and awareness when it comes to best birding practices and ecological health. The data and statistics gathered by eBird and birders informs law and policy when it comes to species management and habitat protection. For those interested in browsing all of CornellLab’s range of webcams at any given time, allaboutbirds.org/ cams/all-cams showcases highlights from their bird cams from the past 24 hours. This is a great way to observe a range of familiar and unfamiliar bird species that are sure to captivate and entertain. CornellLab is a division of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and specifically their worldrenowned Ornithology Department.

CornellLab’s All About Birds website ( allaboutbirds.org/news) is so in-depth and educational that there is literally a subject of interest for anyone. By creating their own personal Merlin Bird ID and downloading Bird ID Wizard from the

through the Bird ID. eBird enables outdoor enthusiasts to connect with other birders by sharing their observations. eBird mobile is available to download for free. The app includes 27 languages and offers monthly birding challenges, such as how to cover the most ground and maximize your sightings during a three-hour hike.

Another organization that is indelibly tied with bird study, preservation, and education is Audubon. A t audubon. org/birdcams, viewers can watch bird cams 24 hours a day from all over the world. If you are not familiar with Atlantic puffins, I would recommend browsing the Sea Island, Maine: Atlantic Puffin Ledge Webcam. The camera gives a detailed look at these funny, clown-like birds, which are quite small in real life and tend to move so quickly, bouncing off

Snowy owl

the sea rocks, that they can be difficult to observe in person. They are fascinating and athletic to watch. Almost resembling the color of a marine buoy in those cold, North Atlantic waters, you would never guess that they are flying around in the frequently fierce winds off the coasts of Northern Maine and Atlantic Canada.

As stated on Audubon’s website, “No matter the time of day, there’s almost always something happening on this [Sea Island, Maine: Atlantic Puffin Boulders Webcam] webcam and on these boulders, which were thoughtfully arranged by a glacier long ago. It’s where Atlantic puffins first settled when reintroduced to the island in the 1970s, and it’s now home to more than 100 nesting pairs. You can also watch the seals that give the island its name.”

This camera is monitored and maintained by volunteers at Hog Island Audubon Camp. Learn about camp outreach and educational programs at hogisland.audubon.org.

For all the owl fanatics out there,

the Owl Research Institute (ORI) in Charlo, Mont., is a nonprofit dedicated to research, data, education, and preservation surrounding owls. This includes monitoring owl health and population size.

According to owlresearchinstitute. org, the dedicated team of scientists believes in the philosophy of “boots on

the ground research.” They explain, “We spend hundreds of hours each year in the field and pride ourselves on the ability to operate in a variety of landscapes, uncertain conditions, and the everpresent logistical challenges that accompany working outdoors with wild animals.”

ORI allows free streaming of some fascinating owl cameras including nesting snowy owl, long-eared owl, great gray owl, and great horned owl, just to name a few. To take a break in your busy schedule and watch a great gray owl in a pillowy nest in the middle of a hollowed-out old tree is a sort of meditation. The great gray owl’s face is beautifully wide and broad with a sharp, hooked beak the color of sunshine. Recently, a mother owl appeared to have three fledgling (or juvenile) babies in her nest (as seen by their more mature stature and almost fully formed feathers).

Right in our own backyard, Duke Farms is a 2,740-acre environmental

atlantic puffins

Great gray owl fledgling.

center in Hillsborough. The diverse ecosystems found on this property include meadows, woodlands, and wetlands. This rural haven is also home to roughly 247 species of birds and 523 species of plants. Visitors can freely roam the deep woodlands, historic architectural structures (like the Hay Barn and Coach Barn), Turtle Lake Path, Fox Hollow Lane, Great Meadow, Meditation Garden, observe the waterfowl at Habitat Hides, ride on the paved bike paths, and much more.

Nora Schnure, deputy executive director of personnel and programs at Duke Farms, describes the fall and winter seasons at Duke Farms and how they remain incredibly lively and vivid: “In Autumn, the landscape is transformed by a stunning palette of fall colors … just a short walk from our parking lot, you’ll find our Birding Platform. Here, a slight elevation gives you a fantastic vantage point to observe the birds amidst the oranges and reds of the fall foliage — you might even spot some migrating birds!

“Winter at Duke Farms offers a different, quieter beauty. The landscapes provide a peaceful, reflective experience. If you’re in need of a splash of color, the Orchid Range greenhouse is the perfect escape.”

Sustainability efforts ensure that the natural setting supports the area’s biodiversity. The park is free to enter, but a purchased parking pass is required for Saturday visits from March through October. Guests are welcome to bring their bikes or hiking shoes for strolling the trails before grabbing a bite to eat at the on-site cafe and farmers market.

Duke Farms also offers classes on Birding & Stewardship, An Evening with the Bats, Beginner’s Tree ID, and Life in the Meadow, among many others. Visit dukefarms.org to learn about more upcoming fall and winter programs.

The Duke Farms 24/7 live eagle cam is one of the most interesting educational offerings on their website. At dukefarms. org/eagle-cam, viewers can check on the day-to-day status and activity of the majestic residents.

A bald eagle nest was originally discovered on the property in 2004 but, during the intense weather of Hurricane Katrina in 2012, the roosting tree was severely damaged, as well as the nest. The pair of eagles who resided there quickly

Osprey nest cam. (Owl Research Institute)

Great horned owl nest cam. (Owl Research Institute)

Bird feeder cam. (All About Birds)

California condors

Bald eagles

Bald eagle nest.

rebuilt their nest that December, but it later fell apart in June 2023 (which is not uncommon for large eagle nests).

According to Duke Farms’ website, a pair of eagles are now building a nest in an American sycamore tree. This activity can be monitored and viewed through the website’s eagle cam. The nest is 80 feet above the ground and the camera points directly into it.

On the subject of the eagle cam, Schnure says, “The eagle cam offers a rare perspective into the lives of bald eagles and other birds of prey. These cameras can show a variety of activities, including breeding, incubating eggs, raising young, building nests, laying eggs, hatching, feeding, and fledgling.”

Eaglet banding is something that may occur at 6 weeks of age when a skilled team of certified biologists and wildlife veterinarians attach a band to the leg of a young bald eagle. The purpose of this band is to track the lifespan of a given bald eagle. Scientists are seeking to build knowledge on how bald eagles travel and move, their habitat use, and survival and population statistics. “Banding contributes to the stabilization and

revitalization of the eagle population” says Schnure.

Duke Farms notes that it is proud to work with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey to promote healthy forests, fish populations, and clean water, so that bald eagle populations around the Garden State can thrive.

Another set of famous bald eagles can be found at the United States National Arboretum. Located in a bucolic spot in Washington, D.C., the webcam can be viewed at naeaglecam.org. The original pair of mated bald eagles built their nest

in 2014 in a tulip poplar tree amongst the Azalea Collection at the arboretum, which is operated and maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture. According to their website, the pair raised one eaglet in 2015 and two in 2016. The mated pair were soon named Mr. and Mrs. President. Unfortunately, Mrs. President left the nest after the 2021 nesting season was over. Mr. President remained close to the nest, and eventually a new female arrived. The two quickly began work on adding to the nest as a couple. The new female was named “Lotus,” a nod to the first lady’s “FLOTUS” title.

Perhaps you think that if you’ve seen one bird, you’ve seen them all?

Well, live video streams of California condors will change that opinion definitively. These extremely unusual birds are sometimes referred to as the “Recovering Giant.” With roughly a population of 504 in the U.S., they once roamed throughout California and the entirety of the desert Southwest. The condor’s nine-foot wingspan often looks intimidating from below (some are mistaken for planes). They can also live until 60 years of age and generally reach the weight of a small toddler at around 23 pounds.

From high above, the California condor coasts in the air streams seeking carion. They’ll feed on all sorts of marine and mammal carcasses. Condors like to roost in very tall and old trees. In particular, the hollowed out upper reaches of the Redwood Forest suit their requirements. One can observe the California condors in the Redwood Grove at explore.org/livecams/condors/ california-condors-redwood-grove. Livestreams at explore.org also provide webcams streaming from California condor reserves and animal sanctuaries. Those interested in taking action to preserve these majestic condors and other bird species can visit abcbirds.org/getinvolved/take-action.

Educating current and future generations on the importance of bird conservation and ecological health is tantamount to global well-being. The accessibility and free streaming of bird cams is the perfect place to start if you are a novice environmentalist or a bird lover. You might be surprised at what makes your heart sing.

Inspecting the eagle nest. (Duke Farms, a center of the Doris Duke Foundation)

Juvenile eagles. (Duke Farms, a center of the Doris Duke Foundation)

Spotlight Q&A with Robert Reffkin, Compass CEO

Interview by Laurie Pellichero

What is your background, and how did that lead to the founding of Compass in 2012?

I grew up in Berkeley, Calif., raised by a single mother who was a real estate agent. Her hard work and dedication inspired me from a young age as I saw the entrepreneurial spirit she embodied and how she saw every challenge as an opportunity.

In 2012, as the Broker of Record, I founded Compass with the vision of revolutionizing the real estate industry and empowering other agents like my mom with the tools and resources they need to better serve their clients and grow their businesses. My background in economics, finance, and technology, combined with my personal connection to the industry, inspired me to create a company that places the needs of real estate agents first and improves the overall experience for buyers and sellers.

What is the philosophy and scope of Compass today?

Our philosophy is centered around empowering real estate agents through innovative technology, data-driven insights, and exceptional support. Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world by making the process of buying and selling homes as seamless and efficient as possible.

Today, Compass is the No. 1 residential real estate brokerage in the United States by sales volume, with a diverse team of top agents and a world class support staff from coast-to-coast.

How does Compass differ from other real estate companies?

Compass is the only residential real estate company that has invested over $1.5 billion on a technology platform that integrates all aspects of the real estate process, from marketing and lead generation to transaction management and client communication. This technology allows our agents to work more efficiently, make better-informed decisions, and provide a higher level of service to their clients.

Compass. Key components of the Compass Advantage include: Marketing and Branding: Our in-house marketing agency is supported by over 300 skilled marketing and design professionals driven to support our agents with services including professional photography, custom-designed materials, and targeted advertising campaigns.

Agent Support and Development: Not only have we invested almost $1.5 billion dollars in building out our technology platform over a 10-year period, we continue to spend millions annually on research and development to help our agents make the client experience more successful.

National Network: With over 30,000 agents nationwide, we have access to a vast network of colleagues and resources, allowing them to serve clients across the country and expand their business opportunities.

Additionally, we place a strong emphasis on a collaborative and inclusive culture, where agents can share ideas, learn from one another, and grow together.

What is the “Compass Advantage”?

The Compass Advantage refers to the unique benefits that our agents and their clients experience when working with

Where do you see the real estate market going in the next few years?

In the next few years, I anticipate the following key trends shaping the real estate market:

Key Trend 1: In an increasingly disconnected world, I believe it is more important than ever to go back to the basics and build meaningful relationships. In recent years, we have seen other brokerage CEOs moving to cities away from their agents, closing offices, and discontinuing local events. This to me signaled that they were giving up on culture and connection. That is why now and into the future, I am leaning into face-to-face relationships. I believe that companies that are in-person will win.

Key Trend 2: I am confident that the most professional agents, who deliver the most value to their clients will continue to prosper. Those who embrace change, incorporate technology into their workflows, and communicate their value effectively will be the best agents. Agents that do not know how to communicate their value will leave the business.

Overall, I am optimistic about the future of the real estate industry and confident that Compass will continue to lead the way.

The Princeton office of Compass is at 100 Overlook, 2nd Floor. For more information, call 609.710.2021 or visit compass.com.

Robert Reffkin

1,480+

Referred to as “the Westminster Abbey of the United States” by John F. Hageman in his 1878 history of Princeton, Princeton Cemetery sits on almost 19 acres near the center of town and is the final resting place of a plethora of famous figures along with many members of the Princeton community. The cemetery, owned by Nassau Presbyterian Church, was established in 1757 and is still an active burial ground.

When first entering the non-denominational cemetery, one immediately notices the many different styles of headstones and monuments, the oldest of which is for Aaron Burr Sr., the second president

of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. Burr died in 1757. Right in front of that is the grave for his son, U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr Jr. (1756-1836), even better known for his duel with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. According to Linda Gilmore, business administrator at Nassau Presbyterian Church and Princeton Cemetery, who also leads tours of the cemetery, it has become a very popular site since the debut of the Broadway show Hamilton . There is even a person who has sent flowers a few times to be placed at the grave with the message “Death doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and saints, it takes and it takes and it takes. Love, Alex.”

According to the church’s website, the oldest part of the graveyard is at the corner of Wiggins and Nassau streets, where visitors can see some of the earliest European family names in the area including Bayard, Berrien, Leonard, Mershon, Skillman, and Stockton. The original one-acre parcel of land was acquired by the then-College of New Jersey in 1757 from Judge Thomas Leonard, a member of Provincial Council, a year after the College moved from Newark to Princeton. The second-oldest grave in the cemetery is for Margaret Leonard (1736-1760), who was related by marriage to the judge.

First Presbyterian Church, the predecessor of Nassau Presbyterian Church, was founded in 1762 and completed in 1764 with a grant of land as well as financial assistance from the College. The property included a burial ground that was later returned to the College in exchange for the school’s cemetery. It grew in 1801 when Dr. Thomas Wiggins bequeathed his farm, which was adjacent to the cemetery, to the church. Later gifts of more than four acres from Paul Tulane and eight acres from Moses Taylor Pine led to its current size.

The website notes that the graves of all but four of the deceased presidents of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) are in the Presidents’ Plot in the Old Graveyard section. Also buried

there are all but one of the deceased presidents of the Princeton Theological Seminary. This section includes many graves that look like crypts, but are actually false tops, according to Gilmore.

U.S. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), his wife Frances Folsom Cleveland (1864-1947), and their young daughter Ruth Cleveland (1891-1904), who is said to be the namesake of the Baby Ruth candy bar (not baseball player Babe Ruth, but subject to speculation), are also buried in the cemetery. Cleveland was the only president to be married in the White House and serve two nonconsecutive terms. At his request, his tombstone makes no mention that he was a president, noted Gilmore. His birthday (March 18) is celebrated annually at Princeton Cemetery with a wreath-laying ceremony by a military honor guard from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

On Witherspoon Street, across from the Mt. Pisgah AME Church, is the current entrance to what was once designated as the Colored Cemetery. Established in 1807, it is where many generations of African American families and noted residents — including musician Donald Lambert (1904-1962); beautician Christine Moore Howell (1899-1972), the first African American graduate of Princeton High School; school principal Howard B. Waxwood Jr. (1904-1977); and artist Rex Goreleigh (1902-1986) — are buried.

Princeton University Presidents’ Plot. (From the collection of the Historical Society of Princeton)

aaron Burr Jr. (From the collection of the Historical Society of Princeton)

Also buried in the section is Jimmy Johnson, who was born in 1816 and came to Princeton in 1839 as a runaway enslaved person from Maryland, and started his own business as a merchant selling candy and peanuts to the students at the University. He died in 1902 and was buried in an unmarked grave. Princeton University students later raised money to purchase the tombstone that now marks his grave.

When asked how long ago the cemetery was desegregated, Gilmore replied, “We don’t really know when or if there was a formal desegregation. It may have happened gradually. We do know that it was probably a bit slow because there was a natural desire for folks to want to be near family and friends. So, we still get requests today from descendants who want to be as close as possible to their families.”

Buried outside the section are Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church Minister William Drew Robeson (18451918) and his wife Maria Louisa Bustill Robeson (1853-1904), the parents of Princeton born singer and activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976), who is buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y. When Maria died after a tragic kitchen fire,

William got special permission to have her buried in a location that could be seen from his house on Witherspoon Street — now the Paul Robeson House of Princeton.

Princeton Cemetery as a whole, said Gilmore, “tells the story of the community.”

The church notes that the cemetery is the final resting place of scores of scholars

and theologians, soldiers beginning with the Revolutionary War, novelists, philanthropists, politicians, a Nobel Prize winner, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence (John Witherspoon, 1723-1794), as well as many others who called the Princeton area home.

Other prominent figures buried in the cemetery include financier and philanthropist Moses Taylor Pyne (18551921); Princeton merchant Henry P. Clayton (1853-1940); Helen Dukas (1896-1982), longtime personal assistant to Albert Einstein; astronomer Lyman Spitzer Jr. (1914-1997); mathematician John von Neumann (1903-1957); New Jersey Gov. Brendan Byrne (1925-2018); mayors Barbara Boggs Sigmund (19391990) and Phyllis Marchand (1940-2021); community activist and first Black mayor of Princeton Township James Floyd (1922-2018); bookshop owner Sylvia Beach (1887-1962); statistician and journalist George H. Gallup (1901-1984); mathematician Kurt Godel (1906-1978); architect Michael Graves (1934-2015); Bernard Kilgore (1908-1967), president of Dow Jones & Company; and Edgar Palmer (1880-1943), developer of Palmer Square; just to name a few.

Pardee Memorial Garden.

President Grover Cleveland Paul Tulane

A large monument was erected for Princeton area native and philanthropist Paul Tulane (1801-1887), which is said to be facing away from Princeton University after it refused his request to be renamed in his honor after his offer of a generous donation in 1882. The funds then went to the Medical College of Louisiana, which became Tulane University. It has also been said, noted Gilmore, that he is facing toward the land that he donated to the cemetery.

On the quirky side, the flat headstone for William H. Hahn Jr. (1905-1980), who is buried in his large family plot, says, “I told you I was sick.”

The newer Pardee Memorial Garden allows the burial of ashes in biodegradable urns. Inscriptions of names and dates of birth and death are carved on granite columns, which the website notes are “designed to inspire a peaceful, contemplative, and sacred open-air space” amidst the historic and traditional gravestones and monuments in the cemetery.

According to Gilmore, there are more

than 25,000 graves in the cemetery, which still holds two or three burials per week, and sometimes more.

Nassau Presbyterian Church recently completed a 10-year project to digitize the records of Princeton Cemetery, which included mapping, photographing all the stones, and the creation of an interactive, web-based record.

“We felt we had an obligation to preserve this long history and make it available to the community,” said Gilmore as quoted in a June 5 Town Topics article.

Access to the database can be found at nassauchurch.org.

The main gate for Princeton Cemetery is located at 29 Greenview Avenue. It is open daily from dawn to dusk. Brochures are available in a box by the entrance, and visitors can also scan a code for the interactive map.

Fall Tours

Nassau Presbyterian Church welcomes school and other groups by advance reservation. Call 609.924.1369 or email

cemetery@nassauchurch.org to arrange a group visit. Gilmore is also planning a tour for late September or early October. Visit nassauchurch.org for updates.

Princeton Tour Company offers Cemetery Visit tours on Fridays and Saturdays, October 11 through 26, at 7 p.m. Private tours are also available. Visit Princetontourcompany.com for more information.

Owner Mimi Omiecinski said that the cemetery is a very special place, and the tour focuses on stories about unsung people who are buried right by some of the better-known figures. “We are wildly respectful, and celebrate the journey of a lifetime,” she said. “At the end of the day, everyone is remarkable.”

Eve Mandel, director of programs and visitors services for the Historical Society of Princeton, said, “We always offer a free historical tour of the cemetery around Halloween. It’s a great time of year — the fall leaves make the grounds extra beautiful. Every time I lead a tour, I discover a new and interesting story.” Visit princetonhistory.org for details.

The Princeton Area Community Foundation makes quality education arts and culture green spaces and environmental action nutritious meals health initiatives disaster relief strong nonprofits after school and summer programs good ...possible through the power of collective giving.

Learn how you can help make more possible at pacf.org/more

Freda Howard Interiors

Lasley Brahaney QP.indd

J ReseaRch centeR Re ima gined

The Renovated Center of Theological Inquiry Lets in the Light

By Anne LevIn | PhoTogRAPhy By JeffRey e. TRyon

ust across Stockton Street from Morven Museum and Garden, an unpretentious red brick building has sat on land owned by Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) for the past 40 years. Some passersby have assumed it is part of the Seminary. Others haven’t noticed it at all.

Modeled after the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) as an independent nonprofit, the Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) has never been an attention-getter. Year after year, the interdisciplinary program has quietly hosted scholars and scientists from different parts of the world, in Princeton for a year to investigate the nature of religious beliefs and how they relate to global issues.

This past June, the CTI unveiled its redesigned, light-filled headquarters at a reception for trustees, scholars, and friends in the community. The renovated building reflects acknowledgement of the increasingly collaborative, technologically sophisticated way research is done today. What was once a place of mostly solitary study has become

approach to exploring ideas. State-ofthe-art technology on the basement level creates seamless digital communication. The main level, which is airy and spacious, is meant to accommodate public gatherings and receptions.

In an interview a few weeks after the June 1 reveal, Storrar reflected on this reimagining of the interior, and on the program as a whole.

The CTI has never avoided a public persona, at least not intentionally. Until recently, the program operated without drawing much attention to itself. But a reexamination of its mission and a thoughtful renovation of the building’s interior has changed that.

“a three-dimensional thinking space,” CTI Director William Storrar wrote in the Spring 2024 issue of the organization’s magazine, Fresh Thinking.

The new interior allows sunlight in on all three floors. While visiting scholars — the current group of six arrived in August — still have their own offices, the research floor allows for a more open

“This building was designed by a mid-20th century generation where scholars could shut their office doors and do research,” he said. “We found, increasingly, that the building was meant for solo scholars. It was essentially two corridors of closed doors, quite dark and reclusive. But the mission of CTI is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations.”

The trustees began to discuss rehabilitation of the building and agreed to pursue the idea. After considering two firms, they selected Princeton-based Michael Graves Architecture for the project. Storrar was closely involved in the process from the beginning.

“To say that he was very articulate doesn’t even touch it,” said Tom Rowe, who designed the renovation with fellow architect and wife Kathy Dy. “He had thought about this a lot, and was very clear about generally what he wanted, how he wanted the building to work, and how the Center would work as they were changing procedures. We were able to come up with a plan that reflected that in a very direct way, practically and symbolically.”

“We wanted to turn the building inside out, in a way,” said Dy. “That was probably the biggest primer, getting sunlight to all three floors — then getting an actual organization of space that heightened that.”

For Storrar, the atrium was the key architectural concept for the design. “We wanted to bring in light, while having a sense that all three floors were connected,” he said. “The atrium does that. You can see all three floors from the atrium. That was the most dramatic innovation. Even in the basement, natural light comes through.”

Incorporated as a nonprofit in the State of New Jersey in 1978, the CTI

was the brainchild of PTS President James I. McCord. It opened in 1984 on the site where Princeton Borough Hall once stood. The land was owned by the Seminary and funded by the Luce Foundation, namesake of Time magazine founder Henry Luce. The funding came from his son, Henry Luce III.

“He [McCord] thought theology had to be part of the kind of advanced research that was going on at the Institute,” said Storrar. “He thought it should be set up for visiting scholars, on the IAS model. At that time, theology was not seen as a science. He began to plan an IAS for theology that would be interdisciplinary in character.”

Storrar, who had been a visiting scholar at the CTI, was appointed director in 2005. A minister with the Church of Scotland, he was director of Edinburgh University’s Centre for Theology and Public Issues before heading the CTI.

During his tenure, Storrar has been developing the CTI’s interdisciplinary program. Each year, a set of research questions is selected on a collaborative theme. Artificial Intelligence is the current focus; past themes have included

International Law, Evolution and Human Nature, Law and Religious Freedom, and The Societal Implications of Astral Biology, for which the CTI had a twoyear grant from NASA.

The building’s newly designed interior is better suited to these explorations. “We didn’t really find anything wrong with the old building, but it was very introverted,” said Dy. “The CTI was searching for architects for this renovation that coincided with their new plan, called ‘Going Public.’ They wanted to take the institution and reach out not just to the local public, but globally as well.”

Like many people who live or work in Princeton, the architects were surprised to learn about the CTI’s background and mission. “I thought it was part of the Seminary,” said Dy. “I think a lot of people have that perception in Princeton. But the building does seem to be sparking interest now.”

Dy and Rowe were careful to respect the history of the building’s site, which is where Washington and Rochambeau encamped their armies enroute to victory at Yorktown in the Revolutionary War.

“The building is in Mercer Hill, a

CTI Director William Storrar.

The new library.

Digital studio room.

Storrar with a panel of scholars in the Colloquy Room.

Detailed view of the Colloquy Room. Garden Room.

Center of Theological Inquiry

William & Judith Scheide Lecture on Religion & Global Concerns

The Future of Religion in American Diplomacy

James I. McCord

significant historic area,” said Rowe. “It was intentional to not change the outside so much. It wasn’t like we ran out of money or anything. They were just very cognizant of where they are.”

Sustainability was a key component of the project. There are 15 wells built under the front yard. “It’s all work that you can’t see,” said Dy. “It just looks like a lawn. And we were able to decommission the gas utility to the building, to make it all electric. So, it’s quite sustainable.”

The building has a new entrance and reception area visible from Stockton Street.

“We have our glass pyramid now, like the Louvre,” said Storrar. “We’ve been here for 40 years, but we have been all but unknown. This makes us more visible and open to the public.”

The CTI has held occasional public lectures over the years, and there have been collaborations with Morven, its neighbor across Stockton Street. More programs are planned to familiarize the public with what the organization has to offer.

Becoming more accessible to the public is “a moral obligation,” said Storrar. “We are seeking to raise our profile as a nonprofit. We are trying, on a small scale, to do more. Small scale, high level.”

Storrar and his wife, who happens to be a New Jersey native, plan to move back to Scotland when his term as director concludes next summer. Taking over is Tom Greggs, a professor of divinity at the University of Aberdeen. “He’s a wonderfully collaborative research leader and theologian,” Storrar said. “He’s very excited about leading the institution, and the building.”

Special Representative for Religion and Global Affairs

U.S. Department of State, 2013-2017

Author of Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom

Wednesday, October 23 at 5:00pm

At the Center of Theological Inquiry 50 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ

Registration Required. Seating Limited.

The Center of Theological Inquiry is

Having shepherded the renovation of the CTI from idea to completion, Storrar feels he is leaving the organization in good hands. Reflecting on the festivities to officially unveil the new building, he said, “There was a wonderful sense of excitement and achievement. For me as director, it was an opportunity to thank the trustees for their investment in the future. Our mission is to raise the light. And the building casts light.”

Spotlight on Cor Cordis at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart

Q&A with Christine D’Alessandro (CD), Head of Early Childhood and Lower School; Monique Jones (MJ), Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging; Robert Missonis (RM), Assistant Head of School for Academic Leadership/Head of Middle School; and Dr. Marissa Muoio (MM), Head of Upper School

Interview by Laurie Pellichero

What is the strategy behind the new Cor Cordis?

MM: The mission of Cor Cordis, Latin for “the heart of hearts,” is in service of academic excellence and embodies a holistic approach to student leadership development that recognizes the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. By integrating these dimensions into the educational framework at Stuart, students are equipped with not only academic skills but also emotional resilience and spiritual discernment. This holistic approach fosters a deep understanding of self in relation to others, preparing students to lead with empathy and make meaningful contributions to their communities.

How does the mission of Cor Cordis and the design of the curriculum/programming ensure that each stage of a girl’s education at Stuart builds upon the last, fostering continuous and holistic development of mind, body, and spirit?

MM: From early education through to graduation, students experience a seamless progression that cultivates intellectual curiosity, emotional intelligence, physical wellness, and spiritual growth. This continuity empowers them to evolve as confident, balanced, and resourceful individuals.

MJ: Developmental outcomes that would be achieved in individual subject areas are now intricately woven together through cross-departmental partnerships to allow for the nurturing of each child to be their best self wherever they may go.

CD : Cor Cordis provides an intentional physical and philosophical space, which has ignited and inspired reflection and change and has allowed all three divisions at Stuart to be more aligned in their interdisciplinary approach.

How does Cor Cordis enhance synergies among faculty and staff and how essential is that to positive student outcomes?

RM: A key component of Cor Cordis is the centralization of student support offices like Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging; learning support; college counseling and the National Center for Girls’ Leadership at Stuart; the nurse; and health and wellness. This co-location not only makes these services more accessible but also fosters collaboration, ensuring that each student receives prompt, tailored support. By strategically placing these offices together, we eliminate redundancies and create synergies, enhancing how we support students’ immediate needs and long-term growth. Integrated support systems like these are crucial for creating an environment where every student can thrive.

MJ: School connectedness is vital to a student’s ability to thrive. When students are treated as individuals, the impact extends beyond the classroom and into adulthood. Through Cor Cordis, departments are aligned both philosophically and positionally, ensuring that every student is seen and supported, further strengthening their sense of belonging within our school community.

CD: Cor Cordis unites us with a collective mission, where faculty and staff become role models for holistic awareness and wellness. When students observe the adults around them practicing intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being, they naturally begin to emulate it.

What is the most transformative outcome you hope for students through the Cor Cordis?

RM: The Cor Cordis is designed to help students develop a strong voice and self-advocacy from a young age. By teaching them to seek spiritual, health, academic, and emotional support, we ensure that they grow and succeed in all areas of life. With a curriculum crafted by a dedicated programming team, students will understand that reaching their full academic potential requires attending to all aspects of their being.

MM: Another important student outcome is the development of agency. By normalizing the use of resources and encouraging students to seek support, we empower them to proactively address challenges and recognize their strengths. This foundation enhances academic achievement and prepares them to lead confident, purposeful lives committed to lifelong learning and service.

CD: In the Lower School, we’ve laid a foundation for interconnectedness, ensuring that skills, concepts, and understanding are woven into all learning experiences at Stuart. Our goal is to foster deep self-awareness and intrapersonal skills, so students feel nurtured and proud of their vulnerability, supporting it in others as they progress through their educational journey.

MJ: As Marian Wright Edelman said, “Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.”

The academic Team at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart includes, from left, Christine D’a lessandro, Monique Jones, Robert Missonis, and Marissa Muoio.

CURIOSITY. PURPOSE. INNOVATION. Unstoppable

Beth Protage Walsh Regional Director, Princeton Elizabeth.Walsh@Glenmede.com 609-430-3124

For high achievement in violin, viola and cello performance

“You

for fostering a warm, supportive community, where your students are well taught in every respect.”

“You are to be complimented for fostering a warm, supportive community, where your students are well taught in every respect.”

Jonathan Beiler First Violinist, Philadelphia Orchestra

Jonathan Beiler First Violinist, Philadelphia Orchestra Call

Jonathan Beiler First Violinist, Philadelphia Orchestra

Jonathan Beiler First Violinist, Philadelphia Orchestra Call NOW to join our award winning string program: • Private lessons for violin, viola and cello • Group lessons/ performance

Jonathan Beiler First Violinist,

Call NOW to join our award winning string program:

• Private lessons for violin, viola and cello

• Group lessons/ performance

• String quartet coaching/ performance

• Competition coaching

• String

• Music Theory

• String quartet coaching/ performance • Competition coaching • Music Theory

For more information call 609.751.7664 or visit our website www.stringacademy.net

Jonathan Beiler First Violinist, Philadelphia Orchestra For more information call 609.751.7664 or visit our website www.stringacademy.net

& PRINCETON

This White House Book Scene features a remarkable first couple who bonded through books and reading, a shared interest that led to the creation of the first White House library. Equally remarkable is the rags to political riches back story of one of the most obscure American presidents, Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), whose personal history has a backwoods, bornin-a-log cabin, reading-by-candlelight charm that prefigures the story of Abraham Lincoln, who moved into the White House a decade later.

As Princeton University history

The People’s House A Peek Inside The Home Of The President And First Family

By Stuart Mitchner

professor Sean Wilentz points out in the lead essay in Catherine M. Parisian’s The First White House Library (Penn State University Press 2010), Fillmore “had a greater appreciation for literature and letters than most presidents.” Having grown up in rural poverty, he “prized books and libraries as the chief vehicles of his own ambitions,” and his courtship of his “doted on” teacher Abigail Powers (1798-1853) was “nourished by books.”

On his various business and political journeys as a self-made lawyer and member of Congress, Fillmore “made it a point to bring books back to his wife, carton loads at a time, as presents; and well before he became president in 1850, “he had accumulated an impressive library of his own.” During his brief time in office (18501853), the Fillmores entertained cultural celebrities of the day, including Washington Irving, the visiting English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, and the Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind.

Wilentz suggests that “Under Fillmore’s hand, the White House Library would be built on a firm bipartisan cornerstone, fit for whoever his successors would be.” Thanks “almost certainly” to Abigail Fillmore, it was located in the second-floor oval room rather than in the room directly below, where the floor had been covered with “soiled matting, splattered with tobacco juice” when the Fillmores moved in. More than a collection of books, the library was “the chief feature of a redesigned room,” with “three- and five-tiered mahogany bookcases” lining “the curved walls, interrupted by screens and an ample fireplace. Upholstered pieces of so-called cottage furniture — a popular, informal domestic style of the time — filled the room,” which, according to Wilentz, “became the Fillmore family room, for informal entertaining and amusement as well as reading. Mrs. Fillmore is said to have spent most of her days here, with her beloved books,” and with her own piano and her daughter Mary Abigail’s harp, “crucial instruments” in “any middle-class household of the day.”

First Lady o F the Library

It’s no surprise to find that Abigail Fillmore herself is the subject of

“First Lady of the Library,” an essay contributed by Elizabeth Lorelei ThackerEstrada, who manages the Excelsior Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. In the Fillmores’ final days in the White House, already hobbled by an injury to her ankle and other healthrelated issues, the “literature-loving first lady” continued hosting various events. According to Washington Irving, “poor Mrs. Fillmore must have received her death warrant while standing by my side on the marble terrace of the Capitol, exposed to chilly wind and snow” while listening to the inaugural speech of her husband’s successor, Franklin Pierce. Although the first lady died of bronchial pneumonia less than a month after leaving the White House, “the library that she and her husband established remained as the heart of the Executive Mansion.”

Other essays in The First White House Library include Catherine Parisian’s “The White House Collection: The Mind of the Common Man,” which covers the history of the library and what became of it in later administrations; of particular interest is Parisian’s account of Fillmore’s relationship with booksellers, including Little and Brown, still a force in publishing today as Little, Brown and Company. Other essays include one by White House Curator William G. Allman describing the decorative scheme and the furnishings the Fillmores selected for the library room. The remainder of the book is a detailed catalogue of the first White House library.

If Abigail Fillmore helped set the standard for industrious first ladies, Jackie Kennedy famously carried on the tradition a century later, as described in Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration and Its Legacy (The White House Historical Association) by James Archer Abbott and Elaine Rice Bachmann. Reprinted in 2021, this illustrated chronicle of the restoration celebrates “the legacy of one of the most influential interior design projects in American history.” According to the publisher, “On February 23, 1961, the White House announced Mrs. Kennedy’s plan to locate and acquire the finest period furniture, with which the historical integrity of the Executive Mansion’s interiors would be restored. Thanks to the vision

of the young first lady, ... a committee was formed, a law was passed, donations were sought, a nonprofit partner was chartered, and an inalienable museumquality collection that would belong to the nation was born.” The book includes first-person reflections, personal and public correspondence, and media accounts with detailed room-by-room analyses of the restoration, along with photographs and anecdotes about the people involved.

t he Chief Usher’s Version

Described by Jackie Kennedy as “one of the most extraordinary men I have ever met,” chief usher J.B. West provides “an absorbing, one-of-a-kind history” in Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (Open Road Paperback 2016), with Mary Lynn Kotz. West supervised the large permanent staff that provided support for six presidents and first ladies, including state dinners, weddings, and funerals, redecorating the facilities for each family, and tending to every special request.

Another longtime White House staffer, Betty Monkman, served more than 30 years in the Office of the Curator, retiring as chief curator in 2002. Her updated book Living White House (White House Historical Association paperback 2013) features an expanded text illustrated with hundreds of pictures of past and present White House families, children, and pets; workers and daily routines; important state occasions; and informal public celebrations.

“Designing Camelot”

She is the author of The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families and Treasures of the White House

A Chef’s story

In Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House (Knopf 2023), Alex Prud’homme, author of The French Chef in America , characterizes sharing a meal with the president as being “in the dining room where it happens.” According to Booklist , Prud’homme opens with “Thomas Jefferson’s pre-presidential dinner with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, a sumptuous repast of French cooking and wines that softened rivalries, yielding a compromise to restructure the nation’s debt and determine its capital city.... By the twenty-first century, food became a mainstream national obsession, and presidents had to acknowledge it. With much insight into human behavior, Prud’homme has confected an appealing, panoramic history of power dining.”

t he stA ff s pe A ks

Douglas Brinkley, editor of The Reagan Diaries , calls Kate Andersen Brower’s The Residence (Harper paperback 2016) “one of those rare books that is both elegant portraiture and highly readable, important White House

history. The anecdotes are fresh and the analysis cogent. The stories about Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama are irresistible.” A CNN contributor who covered the Obama White House for Bloomberg News, Brower reveals the intimacy between the first family and the people who serve them, “as well as tension that has shaken the staff over the decades.”

Today says The Residence is “ Downton Abbey for the White House staff.”

Defining Mo M ents

Published in June, The Hidden History of the White House: Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments by Corey Mead (William Morrow 2024) employs the style of the “American History Tellers” podcast, placing readers in the shoes of historical figures. Kirkus Reviews comments, “This accessible, well-researched, and generously illustrated book will appeal not only to history buffs, but to anyone interested in the colorful stories — and characters — associated with America’s most storied structure. Page-turning, illuminating reading.” An associate professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York, Mead is the author of three books, including Angelic Music: The Story of Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica

Ar C hite C tur A l h istory

The White House: An Illustrated Architectural History (McFarland paperback 2020) by Patrick PhillipsSchrock “shows the evolution of the White House from palace to house to palace-fortress,” according to Reference & Research Book News . The publisher notes that “The white painted facade of James Hoban’s original structure has been added to and strengthened for more than 200 years, and its interior is a repository of some of America’s greatest treasures. Artists such as Benjamin Latrobe, PierreAntoine Bellange, the Herter Brothers, Louis Tiffany, Charles McKim, Lorenzo Winslow, Stephane Boudin, Edward Vason Jones, and a host of others fashioned interiors that welcomed and inspired visitors both foreign and domestic. This meticulous history, featuring more than 325 photographs, diagrams, and other illustrations, captures each stage of the White House’s architectural and decorative evolution.”

“ t he West Wing”

Although my wife and I came late to Aaron Sorkin’s hit television series The West Wing , which began its long run in September 1999, we feel that we know the White House inside and out after streaming a month’s worth of commercial-free viewing. Books like the ones mentioned here can take you inside, but words and images on paper can’t deliver the sense of “being there” provided by one of television’s most brilliantly crafted and choreographed ensemble productions. Several books about the series are still available online, the most recent being Claire Handscombe’s aptly titled anthology of quotes and essays, Walk With Us: How “The West Wing” Changed Our Lives (CH Books 2016). According to the publisher, “the show continues to have an impact that is arguably unique. If you live or work in DC, references to it are inescapable. People have walked down the aisle to the theme music. Or they’ve named children, pets, GPS systems, and even an iPhone app after the characters.”

TenBerke designed the new dining hall at Yeh College of Princeton University. ( Photography by Chris Cooper )

By WEnDy GrEEnBErG

hef Michael Gattis has the same philosophy whether he is introducing kale to Princeton elementary school students or working as executive chef at Princeton University’s Rockefeller College and Mathey College dining halls:

C from Cafeterias to Culinary meCCas How College Dining Has Evolved

“Our mission is to tie in what is going on here at Princeton (University), and that’s education. We have that gift to be able to do that through food,” he noted in a 2018 Dining Services strategic plan.

As a volunteer for Garden State on Your Plate, Gattis helps educate young students to be open to new tastes, comparing raw and cooked vegetables drizzled with lemon, salt, and pepper. “We are starting a healthy dialogue at an elementary school level,” he said of the 15-yearold program, which brings fresh produce to school cafeterias at lunchtime.

At Princeton University, Gattis is part of a team that not only provides students and faculty with a variety of healthy food choices, but supports students eating better to live better lives.

This fall, Princeton first-year students may miss meals from home, but Princeton Campus Dining is providing a full menu of choices including some that may be from their families’ cultural traditions. While upperclass students may choose the venerable eating clubs, the students who eat in the residential dining halls are finding that those spaces are far from what they used to be.

Campus Dining embraces the same philosophy as the University as a whole, and it is what brought Nadeem Siddiqui, who has led many college dining teams, to the position of assistant vice president of Campus Dining two years ago.

“We complement the University’s core values,” he said in his office. “By focusing on how we can support and enhance the student experience, we ask ourselves: How do we make students’ lives easier so they can focus on their studies, build a community, and conduct their research? Our dining program is designed to align with Princeton’s mission of service to humanity by creating an environment where students can thrive and contribute meaningfully to society.”

Dining is also about bringing people together, he said, and “it is exciting to see different communities breaking bread.” He is also committed to sustainability, and food contributing to well-being.

Sophi Sticated ta Ste S

Students come to campus with sophisticated taste buds, Siddiqui said in a 2022 interview in Food Service Director magazine. His goal, the article noted, is to give them an authentic experience: “If you’re making a curry, make it real, not just with yellow color on it. Authenticity is extremely, extremely important to this generation,” he said. As such, he said recently, the University is moving to all scratch cooking, working to eliminate processed food.

Coconut Pasta with chickpeas, tomatoes, and spinach (vegan); a panini bar; sweet potato fries; coffees; spa waters; juices; and multiple varieties of cookies? All of that and more was available with one ID card swipe on a typical day in July, not even a time when the campus was at full capacity.

An April 9, 2024, an Honor Society magazine article titled “Evolution of College Meal Plans: A Decade of Transformation” states that, “Over the past decade, college meal plans have undergone a significant evolution, driven by changing student preferences, dietary trends, and demands for sustainability and diversity.”

How does Orange Cumin Roast Chicken sound? How about Organic Tofu and Peppers with basmati rice; Curried

The challenge is to feed so many, while keeping all that in mind. Princeton Campus Dining, which does not subcontract to a large food service like many colleges, fed 674,384 meals last fall, and 624,747 last spring, for a total of 1,299,131 (not including catering, concessions, retail sales, or Reunions).

Nadeem Siddiqui. (Photo by Denise Applewhite/Princeton University) (Photo courtesy of Princeton University)

The offerings include food that is safe for allergens, along with vegan, vegetarian, kosher, and halal choices. For example, at Yeh and New College West, which opened in September 2022 with 500 seats, the menu one evening had Thai Chicken Curry for dinner, but a Thai Chickpea Curry as a vegetarian alternative.

During Reunions, with more than 200 events in three-and-a-half days, and 38,830 guests, more than 44,000 catered meals are served (plated, buffet, cookout, etc.), according to Campus Dining. For Class Day at commencement, think 5,000 box lunches prepared and distributed. And add to that commencement receptions for about 6,000-8,000 guests.

The Campus Bakeshop

But let’s talk dessert. Roughly 94 percent of all bakery items at the University are made from scratch right on campus, in a campus bakeshop beneath the Rockefeller College and Mathey College dining halls. The seven-person team, led by Executive Pastry Chef Michael S. DiLiberto, starts the day around 2:30 a.m., baking into the early afternoon.

DiLiberto has been working in bakeries around the Trenton area steadily since he was 14. He spent years as a pastry chef, wedding cake decorator, baker, and bakery manager, and went to culinary school while also working fulltime in a bakery. He graduated with pastry arts and hotel restaurant management degrees.

During an early morning summer visit to the bakeshop, two bakers were rolling out a dough for cranberry bars, an assistant was packing brownies and apple squares, and DiLiberto was developing the week’s production menus. They included such delectables as chocolate chip cookies with potato chips inside, chocolate crumb cake, maple bacon cookies, tiramisu cake (soaked with coffee syrup, iced with tiramisu crème, and topped with Cacao powder and chocolate shavings), and Oreo cheesecake bars. Wednesdays are heavy on producing vegan items, including vegan sugar cookies, vegan blueberry bars, cherry vegan bars, vegan crumb cake, and new items including a vegan zucchini bread, made with coconut milk and egg replacement.

Vegan items are now the top request, and 25 percent of the residential menus. “We used to do three or four items,” said DiLiberto. “Now it’s 15-20 items.”

Witherspoon’s Café is the retail

Chef Michael Gattis. (Photography by Jeffrey E. Tryon)

bakeshop hub, with two dessert cases. For catering, the bakeshop does plated desserts (some 20-30 items to choose from), and bakes fresh dinner rolls and bread for presidential events. The staff also makes birthday cakes for students and staff, as well as wedding and retirement cakes.

Mostly, the bakers make cookies, more than 34,000 a year. A cookie depositor makes 3,500 per hour, sending 200 pounds of cookie dough through the machine. In all, the bakeshop, which is celebrating 100 years in its location, makes more than 5,000 items per day, and is even busier during Reunions Weekend.

Noticeable c ha N ges

As Campus Dining evolves, students have taken note of the changes. In the March 2024 Princeton Alumni Weekly, an article by Rachel Brooks ’25, was headlined, “As Princeton Grows, So Do Campus Dining Choices.”

Despite the production level, “No one knows we’re here,” said DiLiberto, who became executive pastry chef two years ago. In a bit of marketing, the bakeshop now has a logo for its shirts and a corresponding label on its packaging.

“University members can select from a dizzying display of options: to the right, an East Asian bar with Kung Pao meats and seafood, Korean barbeque, and daily dumplings. Straight ahead, a grille area known for its onion rings and steakhouse fries. There’s a salad and panini station, a fruit bar, and an assortment of breads that rivals the old Panera on

Nassau Street,” notes the article. A student goes on to describe how there is oat milk, almond milk, and chocolate almond milk, where none of these options were available a few years ago.

And a May 22, 2023, Princeton Alumni Weekly article by Alexandra Bertilsson ’26, stated that “Since the spring of 2022, Campus Dining has been working closely with chefs and local producers to bring more culinary diversity to Princeton’s dining halls.”

Recent events have included a tasting with Walter Whitewater, a Native American chef, and Lois Ellen Frank, a Native American foods historian, to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. There was also an open forum and plated culinary experience for Black History Month with Valerie Erwin ’79, a Philadelphia chef and social activist.

h ow i t work s

Princeton has seven residential dining halls, in

(Photos courtesy of Princeton University)

addition to Graduate College and Center for Jewish Life, as well as the Food Gallery at Frist and other sales points. More than 350 staff members including some 20 chefs have worked together to serve some 1.4 million meals in 20222023, according to Campus Dining.

This is all accomplished “with solid systems in place and clear, concise, communication,” said Gattis. “It begins with knowledgeable and experienced chefs to lead the culinary brigade, knowledgeable and experienced frontof-house managers to lead the service and operational needs, and many key workers behind the scenes making this all happen.”

Gattis meets with the culinary team before each meal to discuss production. Prep is done at least one day ahead to be prepared for the volume of meals. Frontof-house staff, he said, “huddle before each meal to go over the service and discuss any information the staff needs.” Gattis, executive chef at the RockefellerMathey dining halls for 17 years, said he went to college for media arts but loved working in restaurants, and graduated from culinary school in 1984.

“Every chef begins with creating menus and recipes that are put in our operating system, which links everything together (there are more than 6,000 recipes in the system),” said Gattis. “From there they forecast anticipated sales. This generates amounts of food to order per recipe. Chefs place food orders daily for recipes and production.

“Storekeepers get a receiving report which tells them what vendor and amounts of goods are being delivered that day. They receive the goods, check weights, pricing, and quality. A production report is generated from the system — it tells the storekeepers what supplies to gather, put on the cart, and send to the cooks to prepare the meal for that period.”

This is done for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The production report also generates all the recipes for the day’s meals. The menus are linked to the Campus Dining interactive web page, and students and staff can see what is being served that day.

Today, in the college dining world, buzzwords like “functional nutrition,” which is a holistic approach to diet and wellness, and “targeted options” — food

geared to individual preferences — are embraced nationally, as well as at Princeton University.

But at Princeton, there is a difference. “We always ask, ‘Is this the right thing to do for our students?’” Siddiqui said. One example: he found out that this generation

was so busy they didn’t have time to eat lunch or get back to their residential college dining area, so Campus Dining expanded the late meal program lunch hours to 4 p.m.

“We are always thinking how can we do it better, for the students’ lifestyle and experience. It’s not a job, it’s a mission.”

Chef Michael Di l iberto. (Photography by Jeffrey E. Tryon)

Q&A with M. Ilhan Uzel, DMD, DSc, Mercer Center for Implants and Periodontics at Princeton

Interview by Laurie Pellichero

Where is your practice located, and what services do you provide?

Our practice, Mercer Center for Implants and Periodontics, is located at 601 Ewing Street, Suite 15, in Princeton. We are a dental surgery practice focused on implant and periodontal treatments, with two board-certified periodontists serving Princeton and central New Jersey communities. We provide nonsurgical and surgical periodontal treatment, addressing periodontal (gum) disease; gum graft for gum recessions; tooth extractions, including wisdom teeth; bone grafting for implant purposes; and dental implants, including full arch dental implant treatment. We also have an amazing hygiene team that provides deep cleaning/scaling, root planning, and regular cleanings for our patients.

What is your professional background?

I come from a dentistry family; my father and brother are orthodontists. Along with a DMD, I earned a Doctor of Science in Oral Biology and taught at Boston University and the University of Pennsylvania. I have always been very committed to education, as a scientist on bone, connective tissue, and cancer cells; an author of scientific articles and book chapters; a teacher to many successful dentists and periodontists for periodontal and implant surgical treatment; and as a clinician for over 30 years who has performed more than 10,000 procedures and served more than 5,000 patients.

I understand that a new doctor has joined the practice. What should prospective patients know about him?

and dental implant surgery. Prospective patients can expect a compassionate and dedicated approach to their periodontal care. I am excited to bring his experience and expertise to the practice.

What should someone do if they are concerned about their gums?

Patients who are concerned about their gums should see a periodontist who specializes in treating gum disease. Typical symptoms of periodontal (gum) disease are bleeding gums and bad breath for more mild to moderate disease, and loose teeth for advanced disease. Periodontitis is a chronic condition, and its treatment is a medical necessity.

What should people know about the connection between heart disease and dental health?

Periodontitis should be considered a medical dental condition that affects the well-being of the whole body. In that context, there is evidence on periodontitis and heart disease relationship, and a strong correlation between diabetes and periodontitis. In addition, recent studies discovered the presence of bacteria that cause periodontal disease in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

I am excited to introduce Ryan Kaye DMD, MS, a boardcertified periodontist and U.S. Navy veteran. After completing his undergraduate degree in biochemistry with honors at Lehigh University, he went on to earn his doctorate in dental medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.

After dental school, Dr. Kaye commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy and went on to complete a residency in periodontics at the Naval Postgraduate Dental School and a master’s degree in oral microbiology. He was also awarded the Chief of the Navy Dental Corps Award as the top graduating resident in his class. Dr. Kaye then served two tours as a Fleet Marine Force periodontist at MCAS Miramar and MCAGCC Twentynine Palms, and completed his service at the rank of lieutenant commander.

He and I are proud to be a Diplomates of the American Board of Periodontology and board-certified in both periodontology

Are oral cancer screenings important as well?

Oral cancer screenings are important as about 3 percent of all cancer cases seen in the United States are oral cancers. Approximately 75,000 people are diagnosed, and the mortality rate is about 10 percent. As a common practice, most dental offices now do visual oral cancer screening, and soon we will launch in our office a more efficient method for oral cancer screening using a non-invasive Orcellex brush from Rovers Medical Devices.

How does your team work together to provide the best experience and outcome for your patients?

As I mentioned before, we are two board-certified periodontists with extensive clinical and surgical experience. In addition, we have an amazing team that will coordinate and render each patient’s treatment with us. We have four dental hygienists who are all are focused on periodontal treatments, maintenance, and cleanings.

For more information, or to make an appointment, call 609.212.2140 or visit mercerimplantperio.com.

Dr. Kaye, left, and Dr. Uzel of Mercer Center for Implants and Periodontics at Princeton.

Celebrating 7 Years Serving the Princeton Community

M. Ilhan Uzel, D.M.D., D.Sc, C.A.G.S.

Voted New Jersey Monthly Top Dentist, 2021 and 2024

Located in the heart of Princeton, we are a full-service periodontal practice specializing in all aspects of implant dentistry. We are proud to offer the highest quality in periodontal care, using state-of-the-art technology such WAND computer-assisted anesthesia injection system (offering our patients virtually painfree injections) and 3-D scanners.

Dr. Uzel, D.M.D., D.Sc, C.A.G.S., the most senior board-certified periodontist practicing in Princeton, has over 30 years of clinical experience and has served as a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology and implant surgery (the only ADA recognized board certification) since 2006. In addition, Dr. Uzel earned his Doctor of Science in bone biology and taught at Boston University and University of Pennsylvania.

With our conservative approach to treatment and our truly outstanding team, your smile will receive the highest quality in periodontal care. From diagnosis to comprehensive treatment planning, we are proud to offer options that fit both lifestyle and budget.

ServICeS:

- Dental Implants

- Tooth extractions (including wisdom teeth)

- Bone Grafts with Biologics

- Sinus Augmentation

- Osseous Surgery

- Orthondontic Treatment Surgeries

- Scaling & root Planing

- Gum Grafting

H IS tor I c Mov I e Hou S e c ele B rate S

10 y ear S a S a n onprof I t

By Donal D H. San B orn III

First opened more than 100 years ago, the Princeton Garden Theatre is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a nonprofit.

Subsequent to Renew Theaters taking over the management of the Princeton Universityowned movie house a decade ago, NJ.com declared that it is “without question, the best movie theater in New Jersey.”

“The Garden has been a part of the Princeton fabric since 1920,” says Christopher R. Collier, executive director of Renew Theaters. “We’ve had the good fortune to be able to run the past 10 years of its operation, and we hope to continue for years to come.”

Director of Outreach Kyle Stenger observes that the theater is “a great community institution, a place that you can walk to in town.” He points to offerings that “other theaters in our region are not doing, in terms of special programming.”

Collier explains that although the University owns the building, the Garden is an “independent, community-supported organization. We are not part of Princeton

University; we are a completely separate nonprofit.”

How difficult is it to find audiences at a time when viewers can stream films from Netflix and a multitude of other

online platforms? Stenger replies, “I’m a devout cinemagoer; I will watch a movie in any format. Accessibility is great, but no filmmaker for most of cinematic history thought that their movies would be

seen outside of a theater. So having that original intent of the creator is important to me.”

He adds that watching a movie with other people gives the experience a “different perspective in your viewing of a film. We would never get the in-depth conversations that we have or see things that aren’t streaming at all that are only available in theaters.”

Premiere

The Garden is located at the intersection of Nassau Street and Washington Road. The website for the movie house explains that the name derives “from the location, where a rose garden once bloomed next to the Bainbridge House.” Built in 1766, the Bainbridge House is now home to the Princeton University Art Museum’s Art@ Bainbridge.

Princeton Theater Company originally built the venue with the intention that it could accommodate both films and live theatrical events (especially the Triangle Club). A 1919 Daily Princetonian article promises, “While moving pictures will be

the most common form of amusement at the theater, it is planned also to have New York companies come down to Princeton before going to New York.”

Upon opening, however, the Garden Theatre functioned primarily as a movie house. (McCarter Theatre, which opened a decade later, housed the Triangle Club and hosted touring stage productions.) The Garden opened as a single-screen venue on September 20, 1920, with Civilian Clothes , a silent comedy starring Thomas Meighan. (The website states that “the event also featured a live orchestra with palms and ferns arranged on the stage.”)

Occasionally there were special live shows presented at the Garden in its early years. In 1924 the Hospital Aid Committee of Princeton presented “a vaudeville show.” A Princetonian article prior to the event promises, “Several acts and dances will be given from the Triangle Show” and “the Jazz Band will play its most popular numbers. A fashion show and a movie starring Douglas Fairbanks will also be on the program.” And in 1927, a “pageant of tableaux” was presented to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Princeton.

In a YouTube video, The History of the Princeton Garden Theatre, Aaron Razi notes that the Garden “was built before movie theaters became truly popular.”

Razi quotes an observation made to him by the late Donald Marsden, author of The

Long Kickline: A History of the Princeton Triangle Club (Princeton University Press, 1968): “In 1920, most movies … in small towns like Princeton were shown in storefronts — ‘nickelodeons’ — and not ‘theaters.’ Moreover, the Garden predates

Thomas Meighan (1879-1936), star of Civilian Clothes (1920), the first film to play at the Garden. (Wikipedia)

Princeton Garden Theatre on right. (Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Princeton)

what is called ‘The Golden Age of Movies’ by at least five years.”

In the video Razi adds that in 1929 the Garden was an early adopter of “talkies” (films with sound). This notably upto-date technological addition incurred some editorial eyebrow-raising from the publication then known as The Princetonian, which “maintained a policy of indifference toward the talking motion picture. We regarded them as a menace which the larger cities must deal with as they saw fit ... we wonder if the manager of the Garden has contemplated with due seriousness the step which he is taking.”

In 1937 the Garden faced its first competition when the larger Princeton Playhouse opened on Palmer Square, “where Mediterra is now,” says Collier. “There was also the Prince, which was out on Route 1.”

The Garden’s “Candy Man”

The Princeton Garden Theatre had its own (unofficial) “Candy Man,” Harold P. “Sonny” Perrine (1926-1991).

According to an obituary published by Town Topics (a sister publication

of Princeton Magazine ), Perrine was “afflicted with cerebral palsy from birth.” He was wheelchair-bound, having been born paralyzed in both of his legs, as well as his right arm.

Perrine’s motorized wheelchair was outfitted with a canopy, rearview mirrors, and a radio. Resourcefully, he turned his vehicle into a one-person concession booth. Razi notes that Perrine sold candy outside of the Garden for decades.

Movie audiences were not Perrine’s only customers. The Town Topics obituary recounts that he “drove uptown every day in his wheelchair to sell candy in front of the shops.” The obituary remembers Perrine as a “Princeton native who knew everyone and was as much a part of the Nassau Street scene as the Tiger in Palmer Square or Nassau Hall.” Razi describes him as a “Princeton legend that everyone knew.”

Fro M “The Pi T ”

To “The BesT i n n ew Jersey”

Collier marvels that the venue is the “only movie theater still remaining in downtown Princeton.”

He adds, “If you ask anyone of that period which of the theaters would survive, people would never have said the Garden,” which for many years was

(Photos courtesy of the Historical Society of Princeton)

“Candy Man” Harold P. “Sonny” Perrine, with l illian Vaughn. (Town Topics)

the “runt of the Princeton movie theater community. Newspapers would actually list, ‘playing at the Playhouse, and at the Pit .’”

The Garden occasionally has been the target of pranks by university students. In 1930 the theater’s ticket booth stood in the place now occupied by an information kiosk; a group of students moved the booth — along with its electrical wires — into the middle of Nassau Street. Razi notes, “this is why they integrated the booth into part of the building during the 1930 renovation.”

Razi also recounts that in 1977, during a showing of Rocky , “students, streaking nude, invaded the theater.” Former Princeton resident Jon Negus describes to Razi another bit of raucous behavior: “people throwing things off of the balcony … at times there would be people with jelly beans or popcorn, trying to hit the person in the fifth row (or the seventh row)!” Razi hastens to add, “Today, though, students’ behavior is much more appropriate — and they actually get discounted tickets.”

A confluence of events — the increasing proliferation of television,

suburbanization, and multiplexes — “caused a lot of movie theaters to fall on hard times in the 1970s and 1980s,” Collier notes, adding, that the Playhouse was “demolished in the 1980s.”

“Sameric Corporation ran the theater from 1975 through 1988, turning the facility into a twin theater in 1981 known as the Eric Garden Theatre,” the Garden’s website notes. In his video Razi details Sameric’s financial mismanagement of both the Garden and the Playhouse. The company “failed to pay taxes, rent, heat, and insurance” for both venues, “resulting in the closure of the Playhouse.”

The University threatened to evict Sameric and close the Garden if the company did not resolve its default on its lease. Razi’s documentary adds that in addition to the fact that the Garden was “constantly teetering on the edge of closure,” the venue “failed to pass basic health inspections for concessions.”

In 1988 United Artists took over management of the Garden; in 1992 that company decided the venue was no longer financially viable. “The Theater Management Corporation, which operates neighborhood theaters throughout the

Northeast, began leasing and managing it in 1993,” the Garden’s website explains.

Collier specifies that the University owns the “building, but they rent it out for a separate organization to operate.” It ran as a commercial theater up until 2014, but “it was not benefiting the community; it wasn’t showing the type of films that Princetonians wanted to see. It was pandering to cheap student flicks. Based on the times that I was in there, I think they were doing a good job of keeping the ‘pit’ feel alive,” he chuckles wryly.

“So, the University reached out to us,” Collier continues. Renew Theaters “also runs three movie theaters in Pennsylvania: the Ambler Theater in Ambler, the County Theater in Doylestown, and the Hiway Theater in Jenkintown. Those theaters all are nonprofit, and have a longstanding track record of community engagement, special events, and the type of artful, innovative programming which we now have at the Garden.”

In 2000 the building was closed for a $1 million renovation. The website states that “Princeton architect George Fett was responsible for the exterior of the building. The interior was designed by New York

The elegant interior of the Princeton Playhouse in 1937 at opening. The Princeton Playhouse ticket booth at opening in 1937. (cinematreasures.org)

City architect Robert Strada. General contractor Stephen Ventor, also of New York City, specialized in movie theater construction.” New bathrooms and seats were added, as well as new equipment for projection and sound. Repairs were made to the roof and electrical system.

The changes also included removal of the balconies. The Garden’s website acknowledges, “Despite the beautiful aesthetic, their first use was for segregation (although the theater’s segregation had ended more than 60 years earlier). When the theater reopened, it lost 20 percent of its 600seat capacity.”

When Renew Theaters took over management of the Garden in 2014, the theater again was closed for renovations. Improvements included the installation of a new HVAC system and a popcorn machine, as well as new carpeting and paint.

The Princeton Garden Theatre reopened on July 4, 2014. “We opened with two screens, so we opened with Jon Favreau’s Chef on one, and the Polish film Ida on the other,” Collier says. “ Ida went on to win the 2015 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Chef , I think, has largely been forgotten.”

He adds that the Garden also presented “a number of Jimmy Stewart classics (including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) because of his Princeton connection. We really have spent the past 10 years building community connections and

relationships, to become Princeton’s community theater.”

The efforts have paid off: the NJ.com piece naming the Garden “the best movie theater in New Jersey” appeared in March 2017. Bobby Olivier writes, “We chose the theater that best serves its community, with a robust and unique programming schedule that caters to casual movie-goers, film buffs, college students, live theater

yearly averages*

50,063 tickets sold 3,195 active members 212 films screened 140 repertory and special films

1,769 lbs. of popcorn served

aficionados, and more.” Olivier praises the venue’s “robust mix of first-run dramas, foreign flicks, Hollywood classics,” and “guest lectures.”

“That’s what we felt from the very beginning,” Collier says, adding that Renew Theaters is grateful that “other people recognized it as well. That’s always our goal: to have that classic movie theater experience, with a variety of programming that makes everyone feel welcome.”

When asked about the striking turnaround from “the pit” to “best in New Jersey,” Collier replies, “There’s a book I love, written by Barbara Wilinsky, about the history of art house movie theaters. It’s called Sure Seaters: The Emergence of Art House Cinema [University of Minnesota Press, 2001] . The reason that art house theaters were called ‘sure seaters’ was because you were sure to get a seat!

“The Garden was the second-run house in town. The Playhouse was the prestigious theater, the Garden was the one that got the B-movies, and the top-running movies after they played elsewhere. It was the place that the students went, because it was cheaper. I think that’s what gave it the nickname of ‘the Pit.’”

Collier adds, “But since we are now the only theater in town, and we are right there on Nassau Street — a prime location — we needed to erase that memory.” That entails “showing artful films” and that “we have a clean, updated theater.”

He is determined to ensure that the image of “the Pit” remains “wiped from peoples’ minds,” and that “people recognize us as one of the crown jewels of Princeton’s arts and culture community.”

Film Selection

Regarding curating films, Collier says, “Cinema is probably the most important art form of the 20th century, and it perfectly straddles high art and

Charlie Chaplain in The Kid; James Stewart and Jean a rthur in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Britannica.com)

aurel and Hardy; Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain; Cary Grant in North By Northwest.

entertainment — and that’s what we look to do every day. To have an opportunity to engage with people who regularly attend the art museum or the symphony, but then also to bring students in for late night screenings, and just have people walk off the street because they want to beat the heat and see whatever movie we’re showing. We’re happy to serve all of those roles within the community.”

Asked how films are selected, Collier replies, “It’s a much more varied process than you would think. We have a programming team…we look for input from a variety of sources. We do a lot of research in terms of going to film festivals to look at what the best films are for our space, and for our clientele. Some of it comes down to scheduling, some of it comes down to distributor preference.”

“When a film is performing at a certain level, we’re actually obligated to hold onto that film,” he explains, adding that with two screens, “There is always a juggling act of which films do we think are going to hold? Which films have to be clean, meaning that they’re the only film that can be on that one screen?” The challenges in decision-making include adjusting screening times to allow for special events.

“There are a lot of moving pieces, but the simple answer is that we do a lot of research,” continues Collier. “We love movies, and we try our best to line up the schedule as far in advance as we can, to

make sure that we get the movies we want to show.”

When asked what versions or formats of films are used, he says, “We try and show the new restorations, the highest quality that’s available. Our films are presented in a format that you can’t get at home, so that’s part of it as well. While people may have high-definition TVs, the quality of the digital cinema package that we get from

people are laughing or screaming, you can feel it. That’s one of the things that we love in the communal aspect of coming to a movie.”

Collier says that a film like Casablanca has “many little background details that are visible only on a big screen, in the high-quality format in which we present it.”

He enthuses, “You feel the movie differently with each audience — it makes it alive . People are laughing at different scenes, you hear someone gasp when they finally recognize the importance of one moment. You also can’t pause it, change the wash, or check your phone. You’re immersed in the experience — and we love that immersion! That’s what we want cinema to be.”

Educational o utr E ach

the distributors is exponentially higher than what you can get on your home screen. We are always looking for the newest touchedup version of the film. Sometimes it has extended footage, sometimes it’s the original version — we will always note that.”

Reflecting on the communal experience of watching a film, Collier offers this challenge: “Watch a comedy at home by yourself — and then watch it in the theater with other people. Ditto with a horror film. It’s like a snowball effect, that when other

Regarding goals for the Garden’s future, Collier says, “We have brought on a local board of directors. We are looking to expand our outreach, and let people know about what we’ve been able to do over the past 10 years: raise the profile of the theater and bring a number of special guests and speakers to the community.”

Both Collier and Stenger are especially pleased with the launching of a film camp, the inaugural installment of which took place in July. “That is a huge 10th anniversary celebration for us, taking all that we’ve done and moving that

(Britannica.com)

Wendy Benchley (below, center), widow of Jaws novelist Peter Benchley, attends the Garden’s Jaws fest 2024 with Julia Mahony (left), educational programs administrator, and Kyle Stenger, director of outreach. Collier says, “Benchley lived in Princeton, so it is always a special night to show the film here.” (Photo courtesy of Princeton Garden Theatre)

to a new level,” says Collier. “We are excited to be offering this program as an opportunity for students to get more hands-on experience in terms of filmmaking and film appreciation — especially in this day and age where everything is visual, especially in the age of Instagram.”

Stenger notes that the course discusses “developing a story for a visual medium”; making “animations and storyboards, and learning camera techniques”; and effectively communicating “ideas and social dynamics.” Adding that the camp lets students work with 16mm film, he posits that the experience lets participants “see what a moving picture actually is at its core — which is, I think, very important, especially since social media has obscured our understanding about what moving images are.”

Pointing to the Garden’s ongoing film history programs such as the Hollywood Summer Nights series, Collier notes that the camp was “our first foray into youth

education.” He hopes that it will not be a one-time event; he envisions courses that are available over the coming winter holidays, as well as “a larger summer camp program next year.” Funds also are being raised in the hope of undertaking “outreach

into other communities, such as Trenton, to take the education program on the road.”

Other future goals include upgrading the theater’s projectors. Collier is eager to show films on a 35mm projector, as

well as in the digital format that is now the overriding industry standard. Beyond the desire to “keep the history of film alive, and to bring the classic way of seeing films,” Collier points to “a huge backlog of 35mm films that have not been digitized, that we can’t show.”

He points out that “mostly mainstream and the more popular films” are available in a digital format. “If we can get 35mm projectors back in, that opens up access to a larger back catalog of films that we’ve been dying to program but have not had access to.”

Asked what he particularly wants readers to know, Collier emphasizes that “we’re a communitysupported organization. We need the community’s help to continue bringing great films, special events,

Kelsey Theatre 2024-2025 Season of

The Butterfly Series — Get 14 SHOWS for only $212 (adults), $199 (seniors/students).

The Butterfly Series – Get 14 SHOWS for only $191 (adults), $178 (seniors/students).

GROUNDHOG DAY

STEEL MAGNOLIAS

The Butterfly Series – Get 14 SHOWS for only $191 (adults), $178 (seniors/students).

JEKYLL & HYDE

BLITHE SPIRIT

GROUNDHOG DAY

DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

STEEL MAGNOLIAS

TARZAN – THE MUSICAL

JEKYLL & HYDE

THE CLEAN HOUSE

BLITHE SPIRIT

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER

OKLAHOMA!

DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

KINKY BOOTS

TARZAN – THE MUSICAL

DEATHTRAP

THE CLEAN HOUSE

1776

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS

OKLAHOMA!

KINKY BOOTS

(609) 570-3333 kelsey.mccc.edu

DEATHTRAP

1776

A Well-DesigneD life

c lockwise from top center:

c urrey & company s erpentina chandelier; price upon request; luxehomecompany.com

Fazeek Geo u rn; $240; fazeek.co

John reeves aqueduct bookcase; price upon request; reevesd.com

l anvin p encil b ox c a t handle bag; $2,435; luisaviaroma.com

b urberry m esh pumps; $990; net-a-porter.com

Verellen b arcelona dining table; $6,675; amethysthome.com

h unsung c ho s prout goblets; price upon request; hunsungchoglass.com

a rmenta b aguette s tack ring with 18K yellow channel set blue sapphires; $2,290; armentacollection.com

i nterior i cons l ars chair; $649; interioricons.com

c .F a Voysey d onnemara 9’x12’ rug; $5,292; shop.guildcraftcarpets.com

This property boasts a remarkably fresh and contemporary aesthetic, set on approximately 17 acres of pristine land. With stunning 360-degree hilltop views, this estate overlooks the serene Tinicum Creek, offering the perfect backdrop for a luxurious infinity edge pool.

The residence featues five spacious bedrooms, four full bathrooms, and two half bathrooms. The home is adorned with floor-to-ceiling glass walls that seamlessly integrate the lush greenery and ensure utmost privacy.

The state-of-the-art chef’s kitchen is equipped with top-of-the-line appliances, making it a culinary enthusiast’s dream. The great room features a soaring fireplace, creating an inviting and grand atmosphere.

A Well-DesigneD life

c lockwise from top left:

b ertoni 1949 c ube b ertoncina b ordeaux bag; price upon request; bertoni1949.it

b anana republic h ome n oah curved pendant light in antique gold and bronze finish; $850; brhome.com

s oho h ome a nuel bar cabinet made of solid oak and ash; $3,495; sohohome.com

i noui editions Fetiche 3 d scarf; $147; inoui-editions.com

b ernardaud Kintsugi teacup and saucer; $200; bernardaud.com

s t. louis b ubbles b urgundy wine glass; $225; scullyandscully.com

n icolette m ayer Guerlin s lendor hemstitch cocktail napkins set of 4; $40; nicolettemayer.com

i ronies b ruges cocktail table made of a sand cast brass top with cast aluminum frame; price upon request; ironies.com

p omellato c lassica drop link gold earrings; $3,050; pomellato.com

p omellato i conic ring with garnets and 18K rose gold; $3,450; harrods.com

l arroude Grace flat shoe in burgundy; $315; larroude.com

roche b obois c arvel armchair; price upon request; roche-bobois.com