Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898

Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898

March-April 2016

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Letters

Room for improvement in Wintersession

Readers respond to articles on migration, capital punishment, House “masters,” and more.

President Faust on Harvard’s “science and medicine” community

The College Pump

Excerpt of a letter from John Quincy Adams

Excerpt of a letter from John Quincy Adams

Photograph by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

J.Q. Adams on patronage and rhetoric, Daniel Merton Wegner on cats

Treasure

Large enough to cover its player’s face like a mask, this ocarina was probably used for parades.

Large enough to cover its player’s face like a mask, this ocarina was probably used for parades.

Photograph © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

New music from ancient instruments

In this Issue

Members of the Dark Room Collective, photographed by Elsa Dorfman in 2013

Members of the Dark Room Collective, photographed by Elsa Dorfman in 2013; from left to right: Sharan Strange, Janice Lowe, Danielle Legros Georges, John Keene, Tisa Bryant, Major Jackson, Artress Bethany White, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Patrick Sylvain, and Tracy K. Smith
Photograph © 2016 Elsa Dorfman, RI ’72-’74

How the Dark Room Collective made space for a generation of African-American writers

Chris Green and Kristen Stilt in Austin Hall’s Ames courtroom with Lola, Stilt’s rescue dog from Egypt

Chris Green and Kristen Stilt in Austin Hall’s Ames courtroom with Lola, Stilt’s rescue dog from Egypt

Photograph by Stu Rosner

Animal law takes hold at Harvard Law School.

Caleb Strong portrait by Gilbert Stuart, courtesy of Frederick Strong Moseley III ’51

Caleb Strong portrait by Gilbert Stuart, courtesy of Frederick Strong Moseley III ’51

Brief life of an exemplary politician: 1745-1819

The views of Charles William Eliot and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (whose images follow) aided the descendants of immigrants in keeping out new immigrants, as depicted in Joseph Keppler’s 1893 political cartoon “Looking Backward,” from Puck.

The views of Charles William Eliot and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (whose images follow) aided the descendants of immigrants in keeping out new immigrants, as depicted in Joseph Keppler’s 1893 “Looking Backward,” from Puck.

Puck, January 11, 1893

When academics embraced scientific racism, immigration restrictions, and the suppression of “the unfit”

Letters

Room for improvement in Wintersession

Readers respond to articles on migration, capital punishment, House “masters,” and more.

President Faust on Harvard’s “science and medicine” community

Right Now

Illustration by Eva Vázquez

Economists rethink the merits of school-choice systems.

Daniel Nagin, faculty director of the clinic (right), and Andrew Roach, J.D. ’13, meet with a veteran in Jamaica Plain.
Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Law School Veterans Law and Disability Benefits Clinic

Harvard Law students fight for veterans’ rights locally and nationally.

Illustration by Sam Falconer

Historians at Harvard's Initiative for the Science of the Human Past investigate ice cores.

Harvard Squared

The Asian American Dance Troupe
Photograph by Jon Chase/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

Harvard's Arts First Festival offers more than 100 events.

A Sherman tank dominates the “America Enters the War” exhibit

Photographs courtesy of the Museum of World War II

As living memory of the war dims, curators shape a modern museum of history.

“Unicorn Tayss,” Walter Steiger, spring 2013

“Unicorn Tayss,” Walter Steiger, spring 2013

Courtesy of Walter Steiger, Photograph by Jay Zuckerhorn

Upward of 150 haute couture and historic shoes are on display in Manchester, N.H.

See new lambs, try out the arts of spinning and weaving, and witness the annual rite of sheep-shearing at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Photograph courtesy of Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary

Woolapalooza is held at Mass Audubon’s sanctuary in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Hiroko Sakan and her son, Takeo, work together at their bakery, Japonaise.

Hiroko Sakan and her son, Takeo, work together at their bakery, Japonaise.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Pastry shops that “do it the old-fashioned way”

John Harvard's Journal

Construction work in progress at the Harvard Kennedy School

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Building capacity, literally, at the public-policy campus

Mather House co-master Michael Rosen­garten and master Christie McDonald

Mather House co-master Michael Rosen­garten and master Christie McDonald

Photograph courtesy of Christie McDonald and Michael Rosengarten

The Harvard community confronts the challenges of inclusion. 

James Mickens

James Mickens

Photograph by Jim Harrison

A Harvard computer scientist on how to build a universe

Harvard crew of 1926 rowing the icy water of the Charles River

Illustration by Mark Steele

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

An Overseers' challenge slate, reengineering admissions, and General Education revised

Shirley M. Tilghman

Shirley M. Tilghman

Photograph courtesy of Shirley M. Tilghman

Shirley Tilghman on the Corporation, Jane Yellen at Radcliffe, encouraging entrepreneurs, aiming at endowments, and more

Illustration by Miguel Davilla

“The absence of prejudice is still a long way from the presence of interest.”

This season Maschmeyer made her 2,108th save, surpassing the Harvard women’s hockey all-time record.

This season Maschmeyer made her 2,108th save, surpassing the Harvard women’s hockey all-time record.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Hockey goalie Emerance Maschmeyer steadies her team, in record-setting fashion.

Pre-injury, Zena Edosomwan ’17 anchored the Crimson offense as a reliable scorer in the post and an outstanding rebounder.

Pre-injury, Zena Edosomwan ’17 anchored the Crimson offense as a reliable scorer in the post and an outstanding rebounder.

Photograph by Gil Talbot/Harvard Athletic Communications

An unexpectedly challenging season for men’s basketball

Montage

Production still of "High Fidelity"

A scene from New Line Theatre's production of High Fidelity, from its 2011-2012 season
Photograph © New Line Theatre

A daring musical theater company turns 25.

Looking up at a sequoia: For all their evolutionary advantages, mammalian species have shorter life spans than ants and trees.

Looking up: For all their evolutionary advantages, mammalian species have shorter life spans than ants and trees.

Photograph by © JF Tringali/istock

E.O. Wilson on why the human species ought to be a little humble

Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang

Photograph by Stu Rosner

The many pursuits of musicians Damon & Naomi

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Hoon Lee and Kelli O'Hara in "The King and I"

Lee leaps down the stage with co-star Kelli O’Hara in The King and I’s iconic polka, “Shall We Dance?”

Photograph by Paul Kolnik

An actor’s rule on stage and screen

Recent books with Harvard connections

Image of Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson’s perspective and sense of self finally receive the close scrutiny required for understanding this complex Founder.

Photograph by iStock

Thomas Jefferson's “fractal” view of American self-governance

Alumni

Plaintiffs Pablo Girault, Armando Santacruz, and Juan Francisco Torres Landa show off the permits allowing them to grow and use marijuana.

Photograph by Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images

A new lead on stemming drug-related violence in Mexico

Candidates for Harvard Overseers and HAA directors

Harvard celebrates its volunteer alumni leaders.

A portrait of John P. (Jack) Reardon Jr. ’60 by Everett Raymond Kinstler

The Harvard Club of New York City unveils a portrait of John P. (Jack) Reardon Jr. ’60 by Everett Raymond Kinstler.

 

The Harvard Club of New York City honors John P. (Jack) Reardon Jr. ’60.

The College Pump

Excerpt of a letter from John Quincy Adams

Excerpt of a letter from John Quincy Adams

Photograph by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

J.Q. Adams on patronage and rhetoric, Daniel Merton Wegner on cats

Treasure

Large enough to cover its player’s face like a mask, this ocarina was probably used for parades.

Large enough to cover its player’s face like a mask, this ocarina was probably used for parades.

Photograph © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

New music from ancient instruments