Headlines from Harvard history, July-August 1930-1970

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

Illustration by Mark Steele

Illustration by Mark Steele

 1930

The Peabody Museum has sponsored two summer expeditions: the first will make a thorough archaeological survey of a large portion of Utah; the second will continue archaeological explorations in Czechoslovakia and the Balkans.

 

 1930

Dunster and Lowell, the first two Houses to be built with funds provided by Edward Harkness, are under construction, as are new biology and physics labs, a faculty club, and Dillon Field House.

 

 1935 

Two Alumni Association representatives travel to the Wedgwood Potteries in England to oversee the final stage in the production of commemorative Harvard Tercentenary chinaware.

 

 1935 

Massachusetts governor James Michael Curley, addressing the Alumni Association on Commencement Day afternoon, stresses the obligation of universities to solve pressing economic problems; their failure to answer the question of work and wages, he declares, “constitute[s] an indictment of our edu­ca­tion­­al system.” 

 

 1945

World War II ends on August 14 with more than 2,800 undergraduates on leave of absence for war service and only 400 attending a special summer session in Cambridge. 


 1950 

The “nation’s oldest summer school” proudly reports a first: students in attendance from all 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as representatives of 46 foreign countries, from Austria to Venezuela.

 

 1960 

Three cooperative houses, “the first units of contemporary design to be built at Radcliffe,” are under construction, thanks in large part to a gift from Susan Morse Hilles.

 

 1970

The University switches to a Centrex telephone system, installed during a two-year period at a cost of $10.5 million, that allows incoming and outgoing calls to be dialed direct.

 *     *     *   

Five hardy and hearty members of the College class of 1900—the “Naughty-naughts”—celebrate the first seventieth reunion.

Related topics

You might also like

Derek Bok donated his car for a good cause.

A theatrical reenactment explores a 1976 clash between science and democracy.

Until the 1950s, professionals cleaned up after students in the dorms.

Most popular

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.

Long-discussed reorganization includes layoffs and the end of the Dudley Community.

The University will compensate families of those whose remains were sold and establish a scholarship to honor anatomical donors.

Explore More From Current Issue

Modern building with large glass windows, surrounded by greenery and pedestrians.

A roundup of University news from the summer of 2026

A woman with long, wavy hair wearing a white suit, seated in a bright, modern room.

The Harvard graduate’s roundtable talk show touches on hot button issues from religion to sex. 

Portrait of a man in a denim shirt beside a blue book cover for "Gretal and the Great War" featuring an illustration of a leg holding an army helmet..

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.