Kendrick N. Foster
Latest Articles
The Ghostly Outlines of Harvard's Fallen Foliage
Natural pests have plagued Harvard’s elms, while University administrators — more concerned with practicality than aesthetics — launched a plan to remove ivy from Harvard’s hallowed halls.
Where the Wild Things Are: The Urban Ecology of Harvard Square
To the squirrels, turkeys, and geese that make their homes here, we are mere guests for four years. FM set out to honor our gracious hosts by investigating their history and capturing their daily life. While doing so, we uncovered some pretty neat stuff.
Cubans in Cambridge: Harvard’s 1900 Cuban Summer School and U.S. Imperialism
"This program — which Cuban historian Louis A. Pérez called an “imperial design” — strove to teach Cuban schoolchildren lessons in civics, American history, and English, whether they wanted them or not."
A Cambridge Cornucopia
David L. Craft, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, leads monthly urban foraging tours, focusing on introducing locals to edible plants growing on the city streets.
Who Wants to Buy a Bench?
When Harvard renovated Sever Hall in 1949, they replaced Sever's long benches with polished desks. That prompted the Alumni Association to sell the 150 benches, covered in drawings and scribbles, for $15 each. The reasons people bought these benches are eccentric and fascinating.
Harvard, in Miniature
In 1950, Harvard students entering Widener Library could feast their eyes on three dioramas depicting miniaturized campus history. If they turned right, they could picture themselves standing in 1677, when Old College stood where Grays Hall is now and the original Harvard Hall had not yet burned down.
Decolonizing the Colonial Museum
A panel at the Peabody Museum on museums and decolonization covered topics like the repatriation of human remains, land acknowledgements, and ways that museums can continue to decolonize and promote ethical stewardship.