Retrospection
Harvard's Women "Computers" Holding Hands
A group of 80 women on the staff of the Harvard College Observatory were known as the "Harvard Computers." The word computer originally referred to people who were so good at math they “computed” for a living.
The Literature Class Bigger Than CS50
Harvard has experienced a recent decline in English and humanities concentrators, a trend mirrored nationwide. So what made this particular literature class such a staple of the course catalog, some thirty years ago? And what might its absence suggest about the changing nature of literature classes on campus?
The Story of the Story of the Semitic Museum Bombing
As the museum’s current deputy director and curator, Joseph A. Greene, notes, “the more interesting story here is the story of the story, not the story itself.” In the decades since the bombing of the Harvard Semitic Museum, the specifics have faded. “The facts about the event itself … get a bit lost in all the mythology,” Greene says. “That’s what I mean about the story of the story.”
Literature of Social Reflection Course
General Education 105: “Literature of Social Reflection” was taught by Dr. Robert M. Coles ‘50.
Museum Staff Assess Damage
The bomb’s explosion caused major structural damage to the upper floors of the Semitic Museum, causing part of the attic’s floor to collapse.
Destruction at Semitic Museum
On Oct. 14, 1970, an explosion ripped through the third floor of the Harvard Semitic Museum, just north of Harvard Yard.
The Great Grape Debate
By 1997, the students who had pressured Harvard to boycott grapes in 1992 had graduated. To many students, the absence of grapes didn’t signify the presence of an ongoing boycott, but rather simply went unnoticed.
Harvard’s Free University
Free schools were cropping up across the country, promising the kind of free-access, progressive education conventional institutions seemed to lack.
Free University Archives
A poster created by the Free University organizers to promote their event — the first dance publicly intended for all sexualities in the Boston area.
When the Sophomores Threw Potatoes
Two hundred years ago, a major food fight went down — and an entire class was expelled for it.
The Radcliffe Club of San Francisco is not Extinct
We don’t have as many young people in our club as we’d like. Nonetheless we’re pleased that we’re still here. So we’ll stay for now, as Radcliffe girls, together.
The Harvard Pee-In of 1973
Kennedy dubbed the action “A Protest Pee-In On The Harvard Yard.” The demonstrators, following Kennedy’s cue, lined themselves up and slowly poured glass jars full of yellow liquid down the steps
The Harvard Alumni Who Fought to Keep Immigrants Out
In the tradition of their Harvard educations, the League’s executives embarked on a faux-intellectual mission to build a scientific and logical basis for nativism.
When ‘He’ Isn’t God Anymore
It’s 1971 at the Harvard Divinity School and someone has just referred to God as a man. In response, several dozen students pick party noisemakers off their desks and blow. They fill the room with high-pitched, fart-like squawks.
Harvard Wives' Tales
Lecture topics for the Society of Harvard Dames evolved over the twentieth century. In 1925, Miss Alice Bradley spoke on “Intelligent Housekeeping.” In 1951, the wives were “fascinated and delighted to hear” Harvard architecture professor Jean P. Carlhian weigh in on the subject, “Can Mrs. Blandings Build her Dream House?”
Revisiting the 'Four Demands,' Fifty Years Later
“Do you mourn Martin Luther King?” the advertisement read. “Harvard can do this.”
When the Crimson Ran a Beauty Pageant
During the years of the contest, Crimson photographers would scout out Miss Radcliffe candidates at the early fall dances, inviting 25 to 30 semifinalists to attend a dinner where the girls’ looks and manners were assessed. The Crimeds narrowed this group down to a cohort of six finalists, who were judged by editors, faculty members, fashion experts, and in 1953, even Miss United States.
Miss Radcliffe Finalists
From The Radcliffe News, the 1955 Miss Radcliffe Finalists: (left to right) Ann Baker, Cynthia Charmichael, Holly Carleton (Miss Radcliffe), and Mary Lou Severn.
Naked in the Archives
Sargent believed precision was possible only when measuring students nude; the photographs likely served as an element of this extensive data collection, though he rarely referenced the pictures in his own writing.
Anthropometric Chart
FM dives into the archives to learn about Hemenway Gymnasium director Dudley Allen Sargent, who took detailed measurements and nude photos of Harvard students from the 1880s to the 1910s.
Dudley Allen Sargent Charts
FM dives into the archives to learn about Hemenway Gymnasium director Dudley Allen Sargent, who took detailed measurements and nude photos of Harvard students from the 1880s to the 1910s.
Harvard's 'Bloody Monday'
Harvard sophomores used to beat up freshmen in one violent annual tradition.