Headlines from Harvard history

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

Illustration by Mark Steele

1922

Jerome Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, A.B. 1899, declines an invitation to ascend the Albanian throne. “Sometimes Harvard indifference is really carried too far,” comment Bulletin editors.

1927

At a Harvard Club of Boston colloquium titled “What is the Sub-Freshman Thinking About?” the principal of Phillips Exeter Academy reports that many high-school seniors and college freshmen alike answer, “with surprising frankness, ‘Why, Mr. Perry, most of us are not thinking at all.’”

1942

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences approves a compulsory four-hours-a-week program of physical exercise for all undergraduates for the duration, with an emphasis on “physical conditioning and hardening,” not recreation.

1947

A Bulletin “agent” reports that graffiti have been scrawled on Claverly Hall: “Heloise loves Abelard” appears on one corner, “Henry Tudor is insatiable” on another.

On January 7, 300 men gather in a new glass-and-brick building north of Pierce Hall for the official opening of the University’s Computation Laboratory.

1987

“Harvard’s endowment is so large,” report Bulletin editors, “that market swings can have dramatic consequences. In January alone,…the endowment rose 13.75 percent, or $495 million, to reach an all-time high of $4.1 billion.” But University financial managers issue warnings amid the good news: “Expenses for personnel and physical-plant maintenance are rising at a time when federal support for research and for student aid is dropping.”

1997

The magazine’s editors report on the advent of Crimson Cash, which was rolled out in College dining halls the previous fall. It has just been extended to the College Library (replacing the 10 separate copier cards required for its 10 component libraries, recalls then-program administrator Jeff Cuppett), and is about to be extended to laundry and vending machines in all undergraduate dorms and Houses.

You might also like

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize. 

Snapshots of Harvard History | Summer 2025

Including profundity and pretzels

A Look at Harvard’s Distinctive Doctoral Regalia

On regalia, a Jack-of-all-trades retirement, and a Bok’s office bon mot.

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Harvard Panel Debunks the Population Implosion Myth

Public health professors parse the evidence surrounding falling U.S. birth rates.

Why Heat Waves Make You Miserable

Scientists are studying how much heat and humidity the human body can take.

Explore More From Current Issue

James Muller in white lab coat leaning on railing in hospital hallway.

Free Speech, the Bomb—and Donald Trump

A Harvard cardiologist on the unlikely alliances that shaped a global movement to prevent nuclear war

Man in gray sweater standing in hallway with colorful abstract art on wall.

How Do Single-Celled Organisms Learn and Remember?

A Harvard neuroscientist’s quest to model memory

Student walking under bright stage lights shaped like smartphones displaying social media apps.

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?