Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Illustration of Cambridge in deep snow, not cleaned up

Illustration by Mark Steele

1913

The Alumni Bulletin welcomes news of the founding of the Harvard University Press as an “eminently appropriate [way to] powerfully advance the general cause of learning.”

1918

To save coal for the war effort, the University closes various buildings on selected days and cuts off heat to student dormitories after 9 p.m.

1923

President Lowell’s refusal to let the son of a black alumnus live in the freshmen dormitories, as other freshmen are compelled to, creates a furor in the letters section of the Alumni Bulletin and in the public press.

1928

The Board of Overseers approves the creation of President Lowell’s long-cherished project, the Society of Fellows.

1938

After 40 and 13 years, respectively, on the research staff of the Harvard Observatory, astronomers Annie Jump Canon and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin receive Corporation appointments.

1943

The presidents of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale issue a joint statement agreeing to forgo “athletics as usual” for the duration of the war.

1953

An admissions office pamphlet gives the estimated cost of a year at the College as $1,800, including tuition, room, board, fees, and personal expenses.

 In Boston when it snows at night,/ They clean it up by candle-light./ In Cambridge, quite the other way—/ It snows and there they leave it lay.

1963

The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, the first North American structure by Le Corbusier, opens its doors.

2008

The magazine reported on the prior December 1 ceremony at which Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’54, in treatment for brain cancer, received an honorary LL.D. ’08—attended by, among others, Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden.

2013

The Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching has underwritten digital technology, including a “video-capture studio” in Widener Library, to promote faculty experimentation with online teaching and the novel use of visual materials in classrooms.

Related topics

You might also like

One of Harvard’s Oldest Structures Is Hiding Behind a Beer Garden

A crumbling wall in Harvard Square holds centuries of the city’s story, if you know how to read it.

At Harvard’s Beck-Warren House, Ghosts Speak Many Languages

The quirky 1833 home now hosts Celtic scholars.

Yesterday’s News

A co-ed experiment that changed dorm life forever

Most popular

Harvard Board of Overseers Candidates Describe Priorities

Alumni will vote for the University governing board in April and May.

Can We Disagree Better? A Harvard Professor Has Tips.

Kennedy School professor of public policy Julia Minson on how to improve political conversations

Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time

Further links to Jeffrey Epstein surface in newly released files.

Explore More From Current Issue

Four Labrador puppies—two black and two yellow—sitting in green grass.

What Do Puppies Know?

Canine capabilities emerge early and continue into adulthood.

Modern building surrounded by greenery and a walking path under a blue sky.

A New Landscape Emerges in Allston

The innovative greenery at Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex

Purple violet flower with vibrant petals surrounded by green foliage.

Bees and Flowers Are Falling Out of Sync

Scientists are revisiting an old way of thinking about extinction.