Scrapbook compiled by Andrew Todd McKinney, an 1858 College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) graduate and member of the school's prestigious American Whig Society. 15 3/4 x 10 3/4 in., marbled boards, approx. 170pp. (heavily worn, lacking spine, nearly all pages loose, heavily toned and chipping at edge lines). Additional items adhered to binding strips and enclosed within the scrapbook. Inscribed on front pastedown "Memorabilia Vol. 1 1852" and "A.T. McKinney / College of New Jer[sey] / Princeton / 50 N[?] / March 28th 1857."

Pages include a wide variety of ephemera associated with McKinney and his time at the College of New Jersey. Most notable is a printed appeal from nine "members of the American Whig Society residing in Princeton" soliciting donations for the construction of a new Society Hall on campus. Preceded by a "circular" addressed to "Brethren of the American Whig Society" and undersigned by 32 graduate members of the society encouraging donations. Includes a diagram of the campus quad indicating the "Sites of the new Society Halls." Princeton [NJ], 30 August 1836. 3pp, 7 3/4 x 13 in.

The circular opens with its purpose: "We have the honor to address you in the name and by the order of our valuable and beloved Society, on a subject intimately connected with the well being the honor and perhaps existence of the Institution. It has been unanimously resolved by its present regular members, with the full concurrence of all the graduate and honorary members within our reach to erect a new and capacious Hall adapted in its structure and dimensions to the dignity and increasing numbers of our Society." The circular concludes with the names of prominent figures who were Whig Society members while at the College of New Jersey, including: Mahlon Dickerson (1770-1853), seventh governor of New Jersey, US Senator, and US Secretary of the Navy; Thomson F. Mason (1785-1838), judge, politician, and grandson of George Mason; Richard H. Bayard (1796-1868), a member of the Whig Party and US Senator from Delaware; John R. Livingston, Jr. (1803-1871), of the prominent New York Livingston family; and Philip C. Pendleton (1779-1863), a Virginia attorney and planter, from one of the First Families of Virginia. The subsequent appeal from current Whig Society undergraduate members states: "The project of erecting a new Hall is not only of vital importance to the Society itself, but also forms an essential part of of a system of improvements commenced by the Alumni, and intended to render our College not inferior to any institution of the kind in this country." The appeal is signed by James Carnahan, Joseph Henry, Richard S. Field, James E. Green, A. Alexander, Samuel Miller, C. Hodge, James W. Alexander, and Jonathan Breckenridge.

The American Whig Society, a prominent literary, political, and debate society, was founded at the College of New Jersey on on 24 June 1769. Among it earliest members, many of whom originated from the southern states, was James Madison. Initially housed in Nassau Hall, then Stanhope Hall after 1805, by the 1830s the Whig Society had outgrown its quarters. In 1835 the Whig Society organized a building committee to consider building their own separate new structure, and in September 1836 the Society was granted permission to build the new Hall at its own expense and in the location indicated on the plan. The Society moved to "Whig Hall" a new neo-classical structure in 1838 - likely as a result of funds raised from this appeal. Today the American Whig Society remains active at Princeton University, though now joined with "Clio" or the Cliosophic Society, as the American Whig-Cliosophic Society.

[With:] Additional ephemera related to the "College of New Jersey" includes: a scarce "Supplement to the Nassau Rake." Vol. 2 No. 1. Princeton, N.J. 29 June 1853. 1p, approx. 13 x 19 in. (creases, large tear running from bottom left to mid center, adhered to binding strip). The Nassau Rake was a humorous, satirical publication traditionally published by the sophomore class for the purpose of mocking the university, its students, teachers, and culture. This "Supplement" includes a poem "Our President" skewering College of New Jersey president James Carnahan (1775-1859), and "Lines on some of the Peculiar Individuals of the Junior Class." -- "Prospectus of the Nassau Literary Magazine, Conducted by the Senior Class of the College of New Jersey," Princeton, New Jersey, 10 May 1856, a plan submitted for "elevating the character of [the Nassau Literary] Magazine." -- "Senior Class: Examination in Rhetoric," Princeton [NJ]. 11 December 1856, and "Senior Examination in Moral Philosophy," 16 October 1857. -- College of New Jersey commencement program, 24 June 1857, on which McKinney has indicated with a "W" or "C" which speakers were members of the Whig and Clio debating societies. -- Multiple "Senior Orations" programs; newspaper clippings, and a small amount of ephemera from Austin College, Huntsville, Texas, an institution at which McKinney served as an instructor in the 1860s.

[Also with:] Several volumes and imprints identified to McKinney, including the "Catalogue of the American Whig Society, Instituted in the College of New Jersey, 1769." Princeton, N.J.: Published by Order of the Society, 1857. 84pp (lacking cover). Indicating Andrew T. McKinney of Mississippi as an undergraduate member. -- An assortment of other publications, mostly related to Texas history and McKinney's legal work and interests.

Conditions vary. Most items within scrapbook adhered either partially or fully to a page or binding strip. Pages of scrapbook are disbound and loose, with heavy toning and losses at edgelines on most pages.

Upon his death in 1931, Judge Andrew Todd McKinney was described by the New York Times as the "Oldest Princetonian" and as a noted Texas jurist who "Held Seniority Among Alumni." Though born in Illinois, he moved to Huntsville, Texas, in 1850 with his family. After graduating from the College of New Jersey in 1858 he studied law under his uncle in Tennessee and was admitted to the bar. Later he would serve briefly in a Confederate regiment before returning to Huntsville to practice law. He served in the Texas state legislature and on the board of regents for the University of Texas.