WOODROW WILSON EXHIBIT: On April 4 Princeton University will open an exhibit that examines the contested legacy of Woodrow Wilson. The exhibit will be held in the Bernstein Gallery, Robertson Hall. In conjunction with the exhibit, there will be a panel discussion on April 8 discussing Wilson’s life and career held in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

The contested legacy of Woodrow Wilson forms the focus of a new exhibition and panel discussion at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. 

Opening April 4, the exhibition documents not only the positive but also the negative aspects of Wilson’s tenure as 13th president of Princeton University and 28th president of the United States. The April 8 panel discussion will provide an educational and panoramic view of the many aspects of Woodrow Wilson’s life and career. The panel discussion will be held in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall on the University’s campus.

The exhibition will be held in the Bernstein Gallery at Robertson Hall. Exhibit hours are September–May: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; June–August: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. To schedule a tour for a large group, contact Kate Somers at (609) 497-2441 or ksomers@princeton.edu.

Among historians, Wilson is consistently ranked as one of the country’s great presidents, noted for his successful domestic legislative agenda in his first term and international achievements in his second. At Princeton, many entities bear Wilson’s name, honoring his important contributions to both the institution and the nation.

Yet, Wilson was also a highly divisive figure in his time, alienating many and denying others the fullness of their humanity on racial grounds. Under his watch, Princeton University remained a bastion of white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, and, as U.S. president, the federal civil service was segregated, closing one of the few paths to African American advancement.

The exhibition on Woodrow Wilson draws on modern scholarship, newly digitized resources, and Princeton’s special collections to paint a more complete picture of Wilson than is often presented, highlighting the ways in which he failed a great number of Americans. Through correspondence, writings, photographs, newspapers, and other documents that place Wilson in historical context, visitors will gain a fuller understanding of his complexities and why he continues to evoke both admiration and opprobrium nearly a century after his death.

The exhibit and panel discussion were compiled by Princeton University’s Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, a division of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and the University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

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