1931
Immediately after Commencement, workers begin demolishing Appleton Chapel to make room for the new Memorial Church.
1946
Cambridge celebrates its centennial as a municipality and Harvard provides the Stadium as the site for a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert and performances of a pageant, Pillars of Power, in which faculty members, alumni, and undergraduates take part.
1951
The Bulletin notes that, during the summer, women enrolled in Harvard courses have access to many “precincts sacred to the male” during the academic year: they live in Yard dorms (Grays, Matthews, Straus, and Wigglesworth), enjoy full privileges in Lamont Library, swim in the pool, eat in the Union, and use the boathouses.
1956
Among the various summer jobs reported by undergraduates are clamdigging, Bahamian smack fishing, serving as a surfacing inspector for the Alaska road commission, beer-tasting, and interpreting in Rome for Ava Gardner.
1971
In his final Commencement afternoon address to the alumni, retiring president Nathan M. Pusey foresees an era of “radically altered conditions, sharp change, and formidable obstacles—not just financial, but curricular, methodological, and philosophical as well.”
1986
Urging the graduating seniors to think globally, President Derek Bok warns: “Our attitude toward international organizations has grown petulant and shrill. We have left UNESCO, repudiated the World Court, and rejected new initiatives by the World Bank.”
1991
Eppie Lederer, better known as syndicated columnist Ann Landers, establishes a $1-million fellowship program at Harvard Medical School to support needy students.
1996
Tom Brokaw, anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, is the College’s Class Day speaker. Speaking of the information superhighway, he observes, “This is the first time in history that kids are teaching their parents to drive.”
