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Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898

September-October 2021

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Letters

Restorative justice, Radcliffe rebranded, endowment reparations

On speaking out—on Harvard’s behalf

Opportunities in admissions, online degrees, research, and more

The College Pump

Photographic portrait of James Agee

James Agee

Photograph courtesy of the Harvard University Archives

Bow and Arrow’s mechanic, James Agee’s creative turbulence

Treasure

A brown grandfather clock

Click on clock to see full image

Image courtesy of the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments

Harvard’s clocks and the standardization of time

In this Issue

COVID-19 patients on a hospital ward

Photograph by David Grossman Alamy Stock Photo

Lessons learned from the continuing confrontation with the coronavirus

Drawing of Poco from Harvard Celebrities: A Book of Caricatures and Decorative Drawings, 1901

Click on arrow to view full image

From Harvard Celebrities: A Book of Caricatures and Decorative Drawings, 1901

Brief life of a Harvard “character”

Photograph of Eric Hegsted in Yukon snow with snowshoes

Eric Hegsted in Yukon snow, 2012

Photograph of Eric Hegsted courtesy of Anne Macaire

Choosing a path far from Harvard

An illustration showing a professor held back by ivy vines, representing traditional and reluctance to change

Illustration by Dave Cutler

Considering fundamental change in the wake of the pandemic

Letters

Restorative justice, Radcliffe rebranded, endowment reparations

On speaking out—on Harvard’s behalf

Opportunities in admissions, online degrees, research, and more

Right Now

Illustration of a man commuting to work

Illustration by Gwen Keraval

Long commutes harm productivity and innovation.

Illustration of ice melting and spilling out of a bowl

Illustration by Dan Page

The effect of post-glacial rebound was overlooked in the West Antarctic

Illustration of a man plugging his ears on the roof of his house as floodwaters engulf the building

Illustration by John Holcroft

Bridging the gulf to science deniers

Harvard Squared

Views of orchards and iconic red bar at Lookout farm

Click on arrow at right to view additional images 

(1 of 4)

A day at Lookout Farm offers scenic views of barns and orchards 

Photograph by Stu Rosner

A pandemic-era restaurant-plus-farm thrives in Natick, Massachusetts

Exterior view of the synagogue

Click on arrow at right to view additional images 

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The synagogue's painted brick exterior

Photograph courtesy of the Touro Synagogue

Newport R.I.’s colonial era and thriving Jewish community 

Illustration of a ghostly green monster and two children looking scared

Scott Brundage’s 2016 book cover Swamp Scarefest

Image courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum

 “Enchanted: A History of Fantasy Illustration,” at the Norman Rockwell Museum

bold colorful figures, with one lying on a mother's lap

Mother’s Lap, by Katherine Bradford 

Image courtesy of the artists and the Harvard Carpenter Center

Harvard's Carpenter Center highlights works by Katherine Bradford and Diedrick Bracken

Click on arrow at right to view additional images 

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Square bustling, again, with visitors

Photograph by Jim Harrsion

What’s new—and unchanged—in the historic heart of Cambridge

Photograph Courtesy of Wiseacres Farm

Here’s where to plan your next fall adventure in Vermont and Maine.

John Harvard's Journal

Photograph of Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean Claudine Gay

Dean Claudine Gay back in University Hall, after leading the Faculty of Arts and Sciences remotely during the pandemic

Photograph by Jim Harrison

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences leader’s plans before and beyond the pandemic

portrait photograph of Nicholas Stephanopoulos in a casual shirt and jeans

Nicholas Stephanopoulos

Photograph by Jim Harrison

An election-law scholar and litigator zeroes in on political gerrymandering.

Conservators from Skylight Studios work on the John Harvard statue

Photograph by Jim Harrison

The well-loved statue gets spiffed up for the new school year 

Photo of Jane Pickering

Jane Pickering

Photograph by Stephanie Mitchell/HPAC

Disputes over the disposition of sensitive collections shadow Peabody Museum

Illustration showing how Harvard Business School settled on its new name in 1961

Illustration by Mark Steele

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Photographic portrait of Harvard provost Alan M. Garber

Alan M. Garber

Photograph courtesy of Harvard Public Affairs and Communications

Harvard and MIT sell to a for-profit company, and pursue their mission with a new model.

Dr. Diane L. Moore, Religion and Public Life Director

Diane L. Moore

Photograph by Justin Knight

The new Religion and Public Life initiative promotes "religious literacy" in the professions

Photograph of Manuel Cuevas-Trisán, new head of Human Resources

Manuel Cuevas-Trisán

Photograph by Ana Miyares Photography, LLC

New personnel chief, Supreme Court appeal, Yale aims for zero greenhouse-gas emissions, and more

“/Gaishay focusing the camera,” a photograph taken during a 1957-58 ethnographic expedition in Namibia, shows three indigenous boys, one standing behind a camera on a tripod

“/Gaishay focusing the camera,” a photograph taken during a 1957-58 ethnographic expedition in Namibia.

Photograph is a gift of Laurence K. Marshall and Lorna J. Marshall © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, PM2001.29.15489

Seeking mentorship as a student of color, and finding a calling in the arts

Rebecca E. J. Cadenhead and Swathi Kella

Photographs courtesy of the subjects

The 2021-22 Ledecky Undergraduate Fellows

players from two opposing teams line up at line of scrimmage.

Hard chargers: All-Ivy first team linebacker Jordan Hill (55), the Crimson’s 147th captain, and defensive tackle Jacob Sykes (99) are mainstays on a defensive front seven that is rugged and deep.

Photograph courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications

Footballers shake off the rust from a long hiatus

Michael Lyon and son ride a bike next to a river.

Lyon rides on a special tandem bicycle with his son, Joshua.

Photograph courtesy of Michael J. Lyon

Michael J. Lyon pursues easy, affordable trips.

Montage

An image from Gilens's "Reading Forest" installation, a sketched cross-section of a tress with words interspersed in the rings. They read: "The effects of climate change are rippling through the landscape and will intensify in ways that are difficult to predict."

Click on arrow to view additional images
(1 of 3) Todd Gilens's public art project, “Reading Forest,” at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center in South Lake Tahoe, is on display through November.

Photograph by Todd Gilens

Todd Gilens brings wilderness into urban public art.

The painting, "Overseers in the Field #1" (2007), informed by Winfred Rembert

Click on white arrow to see full image
Overseers in the Field #1 (2007), informed by Winfred Rembert’s life

© 2021 Estate of Winfred Rembert / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Wilfred Rembert’s escape from a lynching

Nabaneeta and Nandana Dev Sen embracing in 2018

Nabaneeta and Nandana Dev Sen in 2018

Photograph by Mala Mukerjee

A new book presents a mother and daughter’s final collaboration

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Mark Saltveit writes "Wow" on a piece of glass

World champion palindromist Mark Saltveit and one of the simplest palindromes in the English language

Photograph by Caleb Kenna

Mark Saltveit and the art of the palindrome

Photograph of a mathematician's blackboard, from the book Do Not Erase

Ana Balibanu’s chalkboard, like the others in Do Not Erase, provides a glimpse into the mathematical mind at work.

Photograph by Jessica Wynne

Recent books with Harvard connections

Composite illustration of African American poets Phillis Wheatley, Melvin B. Tolson, Dudley Randall, Gwendolyn Brooks, Yusef Komunyakaa, Paul Laurence Dunbar

Left to right: Phillis Wheatley, Melvin B. Tolson, Dudley Randall, Gwendolyn Brooks, Yusef Komunyakaa, Paul Laurence Dunbar. In the background: On Virtue, written in 1766 by Phillis Wheatley

Photomontage illustration by Niko Yaitanes

Kevin Young’s anthology of African American poetry, from Phillis Wheatley to hip hop

Alumni

Sam Sifton in his Brooklyn kitchen

Sam Sifton in his Brookyn kitchen

Photograph by Robert Adam Mayer

The joys of cooking with The New York Times's Sam Sifton 

photograph of new HAA president Vanessa Liu

Vanessa Liu

Photograph by Kevin Abosch

HAA president Vanessa Liu on harnessing power “for the greater good.”

The College Pump

Photographic portrait of James Agee

James Agee

Photograph courtesy of the Harvard University Archives

Bow and Arrow’s mechanic, James Agee’s creative turbulence

Treasure

A brown grandfather clock

Click on clock to see full image

Image courtesy of the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments

Harvard’s clocks and the standardization of time