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This booklet came from the third annual debate between the Thencanic Society and Mu Alpha, the debate society at the Peddie Institute (today the Peddie School) of Hightstown, New Jersey. Though it does not include the year, it is most likely dated to around 1900-1904 given the presence of Kenneth H. Lanning (Model Class of 1904). In addition to several musical pieces by the State Schools Orchestra, the event featured a debate on restricting immigration into the United States. No transcription, as the booklet is typed.

At the end of the 1904-1905 academic year, the Thencanic Society held a reunion banquet for its members and alumni, the product of which was this booklet. The event included a number of speeches by past Thencanic Presidents (and James M. Green). Perhaps most importantly, the booklet elaborates the names of the Thencanic's presidents through the February 1905 term. A partial transcription, covering only the autographs, is included.

A note: Trentoniana owns two copies of this booklet, which are identical aside from the autographs section. The first three pages of the attached PDF cover the entirety of the first copy, while the final page is the only unique part of the second.

This booklet outlines the events of one of the Thencanic Society's "entertainments." The main item was Howard Hanson's farce-comedy "An Equilateral Triangle," the text of which does not survive. It does, however, include the names (or at least the first two initials) of the participating members, as well as their class years. No transcription, as the booklet is typed.

This program documents a production of "The Shoes that Danced," by the American poet and author Anna Hempstead Branch, put up by "The Laboratory Theatre" at the State Teachers College. The play, which was staged in 1935, would have been one of the earliest in Kendall Hall, which first opened in 1932. Like with the production of "Romeo and Juliet" a decade earlier, it appears that students, with teacher guidance, put together most aspects of the play. No transcription.

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.

This booklet, which was originally pasted into an unknown scrapbook and at an unknown point removed, details the Normal School's Thanksgiving Festival in November 1917. The original production seems to have dressed students as various Thanksgiving foods in the first act, and as allegorical figures in the second. The top portion of the list for Act 3 is covered by the remains of the scrapbook, but the list of names is clear. No transcription.

This small booklet likely comes from the same unknown "black paper backing" scrapbook as several other documents from around 1918. It details the fifth annual debate between several debating societies of the New Jersey State Normal School and several from Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College. The topic for the debate, which took place amid American intervention in the First World War, regards whether colleges should substitute military training for athletics during the war. No transcription.

This "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.

This small booklet unfolds to a long program detailing the staff and students involved in this production of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Based on the credited names, Normal School students worked on nearly every aspect of the production, under the supervision of several teachers. No transcription.

Rebecca S. Smith’s collection (1863-1864) contains a graduation certificate letter signed by Principal William F. Phelps in 1863. This document was likely provided to potential employers as proof of graduation. Also included are a few items of correspondence in the same time period, including a letter by Vice-Principal Silas Betts presumably in response to Smith's request for a reference; and two letters regarding a job application and rejection for an Assistant Librarian position at the Mercantile Library in Philadelphia. (The Mercantile LIbrary was later absorbed by the Free Library of Philadelphia.)

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ayars Fisher Davis’ collection (1895) consists of programs from musical events and Commencement that she shared with her husband Luther Davis and the Normal School class of 1895. Of special note is a Glee Club program which Lizzie annotated under the listing of a performance by Davis: "called out the 3rd time, sang both encores, brought down the house.”

Nellie Hoffman Ward’s collection (1890-1897) consists of her teacher’s certification results for Locktown, New Jersey schools; correspondence regarding her third grade teaching certification; and an absence excuse letter from her father, Cyrus Hoffman, while she attended the New Jersey State Normal School in 1897. The letter from Cyrus Hoffman does not include the referenced medical certificate.

Blanche Smith Woodford’s collection (1841-1892) consists of her 1892 merit certificate from Phillipsburg School with “Sadie Smith” written on the back. Sadie was her younger sister. Also included is an 1841 grade card for Amos Smith from Lambertville School, addressed to J.B. Smith, Esq. J.B. Smith was the father of Amos and William Smith, and Blanche’s great-grandfather.

Annie Lake Lore’s collection (1898-1903) consists of four New Jersey State Normal School Commencement invitation cards sent to her from students who graduated from 1898 to 1903. The students were all from Lake’s hometown of Port Norris. In an article in The News of Cumberland County newspaper from April 15, 1897, she is listed as an officer of the Young People’s Library Association at the M. E. parsonage along with Lucy Hand (sister of Mary Hand – both of their invitation cards are in this collection).

Eleanor Jane Rittenhouse’s collection (1899-1932) from her mother, Florence Spragg Rittenhouse, contains annotated photographs and ephemera from the New Jersey State Normal School, “daisy class” of 1899, and from alumni gatherings over 30 years later. Included from 1899 is a Commencement invitation and tickets sent to Florence’s future husband, T. Earl Rittenhouse, who was too ill to attend the ceremony. There also are three small portrait photographs of Sara Croasdale, Martha "Mattie" Sherman, and Sarah Conover Klein. The photographs were taken by Petite Photo Co. of Trenton. Croasdale, along with Rittenhouse and an unknown alum are pictured in another photograph from 1931. Additionally, there is a program from a North Jersey Normal School alumni event in 1932.

Anna May Brasch’s collection (1906-1908) consists of materials from her New Jersey State Normal School years (1906-1908), including: matriculation cards, a Commencement week invitation, an issue of the Signal, and a souvenir ribbon from St. Joseph’s picnic.

Elizabeth Simmermon Dilks’s collection (1916) contains programs from 1916 Commencement activities as well as a yearbook with yellow silk ribbon from the same year.

Content warning: the illustration and description of the mural in the postcards include inaccurate, derogatory, and/or offensive depictions of people indigenous to the area.
M. Isabelle Vanderhoff Tallman’s collection (c.1910-1930) contains materials from her years as a student at the New Jersey State Normal School including postcards from the school and the city of Trenton from c.1910-1920 and a 1920 student directory. The collection also includes the 1930 book State Teachers College and State Normal School, Trenton, N.J. Past, Present, and Future by Principal Don C. Bliss, written about the school’s transition to a college and relocation to Hillwood Lakes. Additional publications from her collection, namely Alumni Association newsletters and minutes, were transferred to the Alumni Association collection TCNJ010.

Helyn Anthony Meyer’s collection (1923-1974) consists of a play program from her time in the Arguromuthos Club at the New Jersey State Normal School in 1923, her Commencement program from 1925, and an alumni list from a reunion in Florida in 1974. She signed her name on each of these items.