Cap and Gown Club

United States historic place

Cap and Gown Club

U.S. Historic district
Contributing property

Show map of Mercer County, New Jersey

Show map of New Jersey

Show map of the United States

Location| 61 Prospect Ave, Princeton, New Jersey
Coordinates| 40°20′53.9″N 74°39′03.6″W﻿ / ﻿40.348306°N 74.651000°W﻿ / 40.348306; -74.651000
Built| 1908
Architect| Raleigh C. Gildersleeve
Architectural style| Norman Gothic revival
Part of| Princeton Historic District (ID75001143[1])
Added to NRHP| 27 June 1975

Cap and Gown Club, founded in 1891, is an eating club at Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Colloquially known as "Cap", the club is one of the "Big Four" eating clubs at Princeton (the others are The Ivy Club, University Cottage Club, and Tiger Inn).[2] Members are selected through a selective process called bicker. Sometimes known as "the Illustrious Cap and Gown Club," it was the first of the currently selective eating clubs to accept women. Though personalities of eating clubs certainly change throughout the years, Cap and Gown is described in F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise as "anti-alcoholic, faintly religious and politically powerful."

Cap was the most bickered eating club in 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015. It has been the most selective club since 2013, with 287 students bickering in Spring 2019, thirty-five percent of whom were offered membership.[3]

## History[edit]

Cap is located at 61 Prospect Avenue between Cloister Inn and the University Cottage Club. It is the only Princeton eating club to have stayed in the same geographic location for its entire existence.[4] Three Cap clubhouses have occupied this location. The first was completed in 1892. In 1895 when the club outgrew this clubhouse, the structure was moved across the street, and William Ralph Emerson was commissioned to design the second clubhouse (completed in 1896). Ten years later, Cap was ready to expand again. The Emerson building was moved away, and Raleigh Gildersleeve designed the clubhouse that Cap still occupies today. A major renovation and expansion of the clubhouse to increase the size of the clubhouse in step with its growing membership was completed in February 2011.[5]

On December 9, 2020, the Cap and Gown Club Board of Trustees unanimously approved a new financial aid policy that provides a grant to every member of Princeton University financial aid, guaranteeing that no member on full financial aid pays any out-of-pocket costs for club membership.[6]

Notable Cap and Gown alumni include Dean Cain '88, Brooke Shields '87, and Donald Rumsfeld '54. Neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield, who pioneered the concept of the brain homunculus, was also a member of Cap and Gown.[7]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Princeton Historic District". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. ^ Donaldson, Scott (2001). Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse. pp. 27. ISBN 978-0-595-18170-4.
3. ^ "Admittance rate to bicker clubs drops by seven".
4. ^ Princeton University: An Interactive Campus History, 1746–1996
5. ^ "Cap and TI projects on schedule, Charter to begin construction soon - the Daily Princetonian". Archived from the original on 2011-03-01. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
6. ^ "The Cap and Gown Club".
7. ^ Shenstone, Allen Goodrich (Autumn 1982). "Princeton University Library Chronicle" (PDF). Princeton 1910-1914. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-18. Retrieved 2013-11-26.

## External links[edit]

* Official Website

* v
* t
* e

Princeton University

History
Trustees

Academics|

| Schools and
departments|

* Department of
* Economics
* Mathematics
* Physics
* Psychology
* Graduate School
* School of Architecture
* School of Engineering and Applied Science
* School of Public and International Affairs

|

Centers and
institutes|

* Bendheim Center for Finance
* Center for Information Technology Policy
* Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance
* James Madison Program
* Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination
* Princeton Neuroscience Institute
* Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies
* Office of Population Research

Laboratories|

* Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
* Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

Eating clubs|

* Eating clubs
* Cannon Club
* Cap and Gown Club
* Charter Club
* Cloister Inn
* Colonial Club
* Cottage Club
* Ivy Club
* Quadrangle Club
* Terrace Club
* Tiger Inn
* Tower Club
* former: Campus Club

Campus|

* Alexander Hall
* Art Museum
* Chapel
* Cleveland Tower
* Frist Campus Center
* Joseph Henry House
* Maclean House
* Lake Carnegie
* Library
* McCarter Theatre
* Nassau Hall
* Princeton Branch (The Dinky)
* Tiger Transit
* Prospect House
* Putnam Collection of Sculpture
* Residential Colleges
* Butler
* Forbes
* Mathey
* Rockefeller
* Whitman
* New College West
* Yeh
* Graduate
* future: Hobson
* former: First
* The Hedgehog and the Fox
* Walter Lowrie House
* Washington Road Elm Allée

Princetoniana|

* Lists of people
* American Whig-Clisophic Society
* Nobel laureates
* Presidents
* Evelyn College for Women
* FitzRandolph Gate
* Newman Day
* "Old Nassau"
* Reunions
* Jane Eliza Procter Fellowship
* former: Princeton Club of New York
* Princeton Law School

Presidents|

* Dickinson
* Burr
* Edwards
* Davies
* Finley
* Witherspoon
* Smith
* Green
* Carnahan
* Maclean
* McCosh
* Patton
* Wilson
* Hibben
* Dodds
* Goheen
* Bowen
* Shapiro
* Tilghman
* Eisgruber

Acting presidents|

* Cowell
* Green
* Blair
* Lindsley
* Stewart
* Duffield

Publications|

* The Daily Princetonian
* The Princeton Tory
* The Nassau Weekly
* The Princeton Progressive
* Princeton Alumni Weekly
* Princeton Tiger Magazine
* Princeton University Press

Organizations|

* AlumniCorps
* American Whig-Cliosophic Society
* Footnotes
* Orchestra
* Glee Club
* Katzenjammers
* Nassoons
* Theatre Intime
* Tigertones
* Triangle Club
* Two Dickinson Street Co-op
* WPRB

Athletics|

| Sports|

* Ivy League
* Big Three
* Princeton Tigers
* Baseball
* Basketball
* Men's
* Women's
* Football
* Ice Hockey
* Men's
* Women's
* Lacrosse
* Men's
* Women's
* Rugby
* Men's soccer
* Men's squash

|

Facilities|

* Hobey Baker Rink
* Bill Clarke Field
* Class of 1952 Stadium
* Dillon Gymnasium
* Jadwin Gymnasium
* Powers Field at Princeton Stadium
* Roberts Stadium
* Shea Rowing Center
* former: University Field
* Palmer Stadium

Rivalries|

* 1869 New Jersey vs. Rutgers football game
* 1922 Princeton vs. Chicago football game
* Rutgers–Princeton Cannon War

Spirit|

* The First Game
* "Princeton Cannon Song"
* Princeton University Band
* Winged football helmet

* Category
* Commons

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template