Wilder Penfield, Class of 1913, Speech

Penfield Speech Transcript cover page

Wilder Penfield, Class of 1913, (1891-1976) was one of the most renowned Princetonians of the twentieth century. When asked to address the annual Alumni Day gathering in 1937, he called on the latter interest to speak on the misleadingly simple topic What Good is an Old Grad? The resulting tour de force is by turns humorous and deeply profound, modest and clever. It recapitulates the entire history of Western education and points the way toward what alumni have become today and should be in the future. Reprinted for many years, it still stands three-quarters of a century later as a tribute to liberal arts education and the goodwill of alumni everywhere.