Visiting the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
Source: https://admission.princeton.edu/blogs/visiting-seeley-g-mudd-manuscript-library Parent: https://admission.princeton.edu/taxonomy/term/922
January 4, 2026
By
Wunnyuriti Ziblim '28
Wunnyuriti Ziblim '28
Hello! My name is Wunnyuriti, a sophomore in Butler College! I am a Ghanaian-American from Western Massachusetts (though I lived in Denver, CO for the first five years of my life!) and I am majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering , with an intended minor in Urban Studies . I hope to pursue pathways in urban and international development or sustainability after graduation. I research soil health, environmental remediation, and STEM ... Read more
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One of the most significant cultural landmarks in my hometown of Westfield, Massachusetts is the Westfield Athenaeum, our free public library and a splendid repository of our city’s 357-year history! The Athenaeum contributed to the development of my personal interest in local history, so naturally, when I came to Princeton, I was eager to find a similar hub for archival material. It turns out this hub is the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library!
Mudd Manuscript Library is one of eleven locations within the Princeton University Library system and houses institutional archives and twentieth century public policy papers. Mudd is open to all, but I was introduced to this space through my Sophomore Research Seminar(WRI 220: The Writing’s on the Wall!). In this seminar, we pursue an independent, data-driven research project using the Princeton campus as our “field” of study.
I’m researching how the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge (colloquially known by some as “Oxbridge”) have influenced Princeton, and whether a reexamination of these influences can spark an educational revolution within the University. Considering this, visiting Mudd was essential in generating datasets for my research.
Since Mudd is a non-circulating library, I had to request the materials I wanted to view in advance, but I was able to come in at any time to view them. I was not sure what exact files I needed to view within the archives, so the librarians wheeled out three large (and well-organized) archival boxes for my perusal. I eventually narrowed this selection down to a handful of folders.
A particularly helpful folder I viewed, titled "The Quad Plan," contained original documents dating back to around 1905 to 1910. The Quad Plan was a polarizing concept devised by then-Princeton President Woodrow Wilson to eliminate the eating clubs and institute a residential college system. Directly inspired by the independent colleges at Oxbridge, these residential colleges would be organized around quadrangles and would house all students and faculty. This plan seemed to build on the successes of the preceptorial system (adapted from the Oxbridge tutorial system) and his selection of the Collegiate Gothic as an institutional architecture (inspired by the predominately Gothic architecture of Oxbridge colleges).
The documents included articles and letters with defenses of the system by Wilson and the Board of Trustees and fierce opposition from alumni. This alumni resistance eventually led to the plan’s failure. It was fascinating to see how the past enchantment with the idealized aesthetics of Oxbridge shape Princeton’s identity today. Equally intriguing, however, was the relevance of these archives to contemporary campus debates. Princetonians continue to contemplate the role of residential colleges, eating clubs, precepts, and neo-Gothic architecture on our campus today, with some specifically referencing The Quad Plan, so I enjoyed reading the original documents informing such debates.
The second folder I viewed was titled "Residential Colleges" and carried files from the 1980s authored by the Committee on Undergraduate Residential Life (CURL). While the Quad Plan was one of the first residential college proposals in the United States, Princeton did not implement its residential college system (outside of the Graduate College) until 1983. These files documented the process of this implementation and the years immediately following. While seen as a rough continuation of the Quad Plan, Princeton’s residential colleges were quite different in the 1980s, only housing freshman, sophomores, and the Head of the College. This stark divergence from the Oxbridge collegiate model led many at the time to question its effectiveness in creating community. Today’s residential colleges house Resident Graduate Students, Resident Faculty Fellows, and juniors and seniors in addition to underclassmen and the college head. However, it was interesting to see many aspects of residential college life today, such as Broadway trips and college council study breaks that originate from the 1980s system.
Blair Hall, a building that is part of both Mathey and Rockefeller Colleges. They are two of the original five residential colleges established in the 1980s (we now have seven residential colleges today).
But my favorite document in Mudd was an architectural plan titled “A Plan for the Architectural and Topographical Development of Princeton University”, dating back to 1906. Created by Ralph Adams Cram, one of the most influential architects in the University’s history, the plan depicts an notably different Princeton campusorganized around an expansive series of quadrangles, inspired by the Gothic quadrangles of Oxbridge. Some of these quadrangles were realized on today's campus, such as the “Freshman Dormitory” quadrangle (which is now part of Mathey and Rockefeller College) and the Graduate College (which ended up being built a mile off central campus). However, others remain in the realm of imagination, including an Art Museum quadrangle and a quadrangle centered around the John C. Green School of Science (a building that burned down in 1928). I discovered bygone buildings in Princeton’s history while learning about what a campus with a heavier Oxbridge influence would have looked like!
A photo of the plan I viewed in the Mudd (I was trying to avoid the glare with this angle). Compare this with the updated 2026 campus map!
It was gratifying to find a space in Princeton similar to my hometown library and research such a compelling topic. I am looking forward to continuing this research project in the spring semester, so check back for updates soon!
The Princeton University Chapel and the Mather Sundial, which form an iconic open quadrangle in conjunction with a few other buildings. While Ralph Adams Cram designed the Chapel, he did not include it in the plan pictured above because Marquand Chapel (which burned down in 1920) was still standing.
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