The library’s local history team leads this tour of the last century of Princeton’s literary achievement. Complimentary lunch and book provided. Offered as part of the 2025 Being Human Festival (US).
In 1994, Princeton University alumnus Aaron S. Madsen created a “Literary Map of Princeton, New Jersey” for the Humanities Council at Princeton University. This map encodes the names of more than 60 notable authors and associates them with 23 buildings in the environs of the town and University campus. While some locations are inaccessible on foot, many are near enough connected, that they allow for a walkable tour of the town’s literary heritage.
The library’s local history team leads this tour of the last century of Princeton’s literature, sharing passages from the authors’ texts, providing details about their lives in Princeton, and identifying locations significant to their development. Note that accessible routes will be planned wherever possible, but the tour will happen on pedestrian paths through town and on the University campus.
Those joining the tour will be primed for their journey with a simple lunch and a presentation offered by Dana Serea, Princeton University '26 and one of the editors-in-chief of the Nassau Literary Review, the second oldest undergraduate literary and arts magazine in the nation and the oldest student publication at Princeton University. They will also be provided with a complimentary copy of a book by one of the authors featured on the tour.
This program is offered as contribution to the 2025 Being Human Festival (US)'s exploration of landmarks. This collaboration between the Princeton Public Library and Princeton University, "Centennial Landmarks of Literature and Cinema in Princeton" brings into focus Princeton’s legacy as a center of literary and cinematic culture during the last century. Four programs put on by our organizers will explore what it means to reach the landmark of a centennial recognition. Two walking tours explore one hundred years of literature and of cinema in the Princeton area. Two special events unpack how a century of literary celebrity resonates in the present, both in the life and experience of James Baldwin and in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most celebrated title, "The Great Gatsby." These four programs investigate how, at the passing of a century, places and persons can become landmarks, and how we live our lives among them.
In partnership with humanists and humanities organizations across the country, the National Humanities Center is supporting 16 public events across the US. These community-focused events, organized and presented by local artists, scholars, and educators, highlight the incredible breadth of the humanities and demonstrate how they add depth and meaning to our lives, help us understand ourselves and one another, and provide context for the complex world around us. The American edition of the Being Human Festival, begun in 2024, is the latest international expansion of the Being Human effort, launched in the United Kingdom in 2014.
Public Humanities programs and resources at the library are presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Lectures & Panels | Humanities | *Registration Required |
