Appendix A: Student Demographics, 1812-1865 Report produced by Daved Anthony Schmidt This report provides a demographic analysis of Princeton Theological Seminary’s student population between the institution’s founding in 1812 and the conclusion of the American Civil War in 1865. It is meant to be read in conjunction with the broader “historical audit” of the Seminary’s social, political, and economic ties to American slavery, which was commissioned in 2016 by President Craig Barnes. Toward this end, its purpose is to provide a general profile of the student body that can be used to better understand both the school’s stance on slavery and the potential range of opinions in this period. The opinions of Seminary professors are relatively well known, in other words, but where did their students come from and where did they go when they left? This report begins with an overview of the Seminary’s students between 1812 and 1865, turning then to an analysis of where students lived prior to arriving on campus. The third section examines the regional distribution of students after they left the Seminary. The fourth presents statistics pertaining to institutional and organizational affiliations leading up to, and during, the war. I. Overview Between 1812 and 1865, the total number of students who enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary was 2,493. Six of these individuals enrolled, but either never attended classes or left within a week of initially arriving in Princeton, bringing the total down to 2,487 students. This second figure is the basis for the statistics that follow. The average student body certainly grew between the first class in 1815 (16 total students) and the Class of 1865
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