Background
He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to William Libbey, Junior., a wealthy New York City merchant, and Elizabeth Marsh (Libbey).
anthropologist archaeologist geographer
He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to William Libbey, Junior., a wealthy New York City merchant, and Elizabeth Marsh (Libbey).
Princeton University.
He is also known for his first ascent of Mount Princeton in 1877. As an undergraduate at Princeton Libbey was responsible for the adoption of orange and black as the school colors. Professor
Libbey graduated from Princeton in 1877 and that summer went on the Princeton scientific expedition to the West.
lieutenant was there that on the afternoon of July 17, 1877, at 12:30 pm he reached the summit of Mount Princeton.
Following his summer in the West, Libbey studied in Berlin and Paris. In 1883 he was appointed as a full professor and continued to teach the physical geography classes.
In 1897 Libbey was involved with the controversy concerning whether the Acoma people had once lived on Enchanted Mesa. After great exertion, he spent a couple of hours on the mesa top and concluded that nothing was there and that it had never been occupied.
Subsequent work by archaeologists have shown that Libbey"s conclusion was hasty.
Libbey died in Princeton, New Jersey.
The next year he arranged for the manufacture of 1,000 yards of orange and black ribbon and proceeded to sell it, from the Grand Union Hotel, at an intercollegiate regatta in Saratoga, New York as "Princeton"s colors." After the Princeton crew team won, he sold out and orange and black have been Princeton"s definitive colors ever since. Libbey returned and received his doctorate in geology in 1879, the first awarded by Princeton. At the 1912 Summer Olympics he won the silver medal as a member of the American team in the team running deer, single shots competition.
He was twice a member of the United States. Olympic Rifle Team, and rose to the rank of colonel in the New Jersey National Guard.
