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John Harvard's Journal

Yesterday’s News

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

January-February 2015


1915

Undergraduate clubs pledge not to elect freshmen, in an effort to ensure that first-years adjust to Harvard social life by forming friendships in the dormitories. The Bulletin notes: “At most American colleges the ‘rushing’ of freshmen by rival fraternities is an evil clearly recognized and deplored. Harvard has never suffered from precisely this affliction.”

1925

The faculty, “whether out of consideration for the eyesight of the students or for the greater enlightenment of their minds,” delay the start of exams on January 24 from 9 a.m. to 10 so students may view the total eclipse of the sun.

1930

The nearly finished indoor athletic building contains a swimming pool financed by donors Aquaticus Anonymous and Alumnus Aquaticus, both later revealed to be Arthur W. Stevens ’97.

1935

President Conant proposes that the College drop its Latin requirement—even for those wishing to graduate with an A.B.

1945

The School of Public Health is running a special two-month course on parasitology, tropical medicine, sanitation, epidemiology, and related subjects for 60 naval medical officers who are scheduled for island rehabilitation duty in the Pacific.

1975

Radcliffe president Matina S. Horner joins the board of directors of Time Inc., saying she accepted the position only when she felt confident she was not being taken on merely as a token woman.

1985

After 67 years of loose affiliation with the College, all nine final clubs have chosen to return to completely independent status, rather than comply with official pressure to open their membership to women. The decision ends their access to Harvard’s phone system, low-cost steam heat, and mailing lists.

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Cartoon of Harvard Band’s large drum

Illustration by Mark Steele

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Archibald Henry Grimke in 1927

Archibald Henry Grimke in 1927

Courtesy Schomburg Library, New York Public Library

Archibald Henry Grimke

The John Harvard statue, with books at hand

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Photograph by Brian Snyder/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo

John Harvard, Reader