The circumstances surrounding this clearly satirical newspaper, and its relationship with The Signal, remain partly unknown. However, it probably relates to a student production of the comedy "Beggar on Horseback" by George Kaufman and Marc Connelly. The rather morbid cover story seems to be a riff on the events of the play, with students appearing under the names of the characters they played. Other "news" stories appear throughout, alongside "advertisements" with the names and members of school organizations, as well as illustrations. Several advertisements related to buying bonds to support the United States in World War Two also are present. No transcription.
unknownThis booklet was likely made by representatives of the Class of 1941 for this event, their Junior Prom. It includes a list of class officers and a list of those who arranged the event, as well as spaces for the original owner to write the names of their dancing partners. This person spent the night dancing mostly with one "Don," but also with "Walt and Jeannette," "Les and Helen," "Fred and Christine," and "John and Jean." No transcription.
unknownThis booklet was likely made by representatives of the Class of 1940 for this event, their Junior Prom. It includes a list of class officers and a list of those who arranged the event, as well as spaces for the original owner to write the names of their dancing partners (this section in this booklet is blank). No transcription.
unknownThis "booklet" features a sheet-metal front cover, something that likely would not exist following the attack on Pearl Harbor later in 1941 and the beginning of wartime rationing. Like other documents of this type, it includes names of organizers and participating students, as well as spaces to write the names of dancing partners. This student danced with "Ren," "Mike Grayson," "Ruth Kane," "John Thomas," "Jay and Don Robinson," and "George and Rosa." These names are likely similar to the ones in the booklet from the previous year's Junior Prom. No transcription.
unknownThis booklet most likely came from the same student as the other dance cards; this student was also a member of the Arguromathos Society and may have donated the photos from the same time period. Regardless, this dance, held at Trenton's prestigious Stacy-Trent Hotel, shows that despite the Normal School's relocation to Ewing, connections to Trenton remained for some time. As with the related items, this booklet includes spaces to write dance partners' names--in this case, the student danced with "Keith," "Don," "Fred," "George," "Armas," and "Charles." No transcription.
Arguromuthos Sorority (Trenton State College)Content warning: Some of the yearbooks from 1911 through the 1930s contain racist illustrations of figures in blackface and minstrel characters, as well as inaccurate, derogatory, and/or offensive depictions of Asian and Indigenous people.
The first issue of The Seal was focused on the history and activities of the Class of 1911 and included sections on “class prophecies,” “statistics” of each student, a calendar of the year’s past events, poems, ditties and songs, vignettes of events in each department and hall (dorm) life, listings of the literary societies as well as social clubs (such as “the red mice” and “the clammy six”), a group portrait of the class and some of the societies and clubs, and advertising from Trenton businesses. The seniors were listed in a directory and did not have individual portraits. The next yearbook, 1912, had a similar format, but also included a list of faculty members, as well as photographs of the campus buildings. Starting in 1915, there were individual portraits of graduating seniors (1913 had individual portraits as well, but not 1914). The format remained fairly consistent afterward, however a few issues from the 1920s also have the Juniors, or class of February of the next year listed in the book with the previous May graduates. The Yearbook Club had several name variations, including: Year-Book Club, Year Book Club, or just “Yearbook” or “Seal.”
The collection is complete from 1911 until The Seal ceased publication in 2017. No issue was printed in 1944 due to World War II restrictions.
In addition, there are a few folders of ephemera, correspondence, photographs, obituaries, and other clippings taken from books formerly belonging to Vivian Rolandelli, Kenneth Weber, and Jessie Turk.
College of New Jersey (Ewing, N.J.)