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The collection consists of correspondence (approximately 125 letters) between Lea and his father, Thomas Lea. Joseph writes from boarding school in Burlington, New Jersey, in 1799, to his father at Wilmington, Delaware. In September 1801 he asks for permission to attend Princeton, and given that permission he enters Princeton as a senior in November 1801, taking classes in chemistry, natural philosophy, and other subjects.
Lea's letters discuss student life, dining, clothing, mad dogs, the rebuilding of Nassau Hall after the fire of 1802, and travel to Philadelphia, Pa., to visit relatives. His father's letters (1799-1802) are filled with concerns for his son's spiritual and physical well-being.
The collection is open for research.
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under
AM15029
No appraisal information is available.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Joseph Lea Correspondence, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
Folder Inventory added by Hilde Creager (2015) in 2012.
Joseph Lea attended boarding school in Burlington, New Jersey, before enrolling as a senior at Princeton University in 1801.
The College of New Jersey was initially chartered in 1746. The first classes were held in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in the parsonage of the president, the Reverend Jonathan Dickinson. Upon his death, the College moved to Newark, New Jersey, and was headed by the Reverend Aaron Burr, Sr. Since 1756, the College has been located in Princeton, New Jersey. For the first fifty years, nearly all College operations took place within Nassau Hall. Fires, fundraising difficulties, low student enrollment, and the Civil War challenged the vitality of the College in the early and middle nineteenth century, but the College grew vigorously under the leadership of President James McCosh, and it was renamed Princeton University in 1896. The Graduate School was established in 1900, although a limited graduate program had existed since the 1870s. Princeton enthusiastically supported the country (living up to its informal motto, "Princeton in the Nation's Service") during the First and Second World Wars, offering the expertise of faculty and campus space for training, as well as facilitating the early graduation of students so they could enlist. The post-World War II years brought dramatic changes to Princeton. The size and strength of the University's facilities and academic programs—especially for the applied sciences and public policy—were increased dramatically. Under President Robert Goheen, Princeton began to admit minority students in greater numbers in the 1960s and admitted women undergraduates in 1969. Today, Princeton is widely regarded as one of the top universities in the world.