Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Illustration depicting a summer-school student sunbathing on the steps of Widener Library

Illustration by Mark Steele

1913

The Alumni Bulletin reports the laying of the cornerstone of the Harvard Club of Boston. A spokesman says the club will be “characterized by academic simplicity. We desire to be famous, not for our canvas-backs, but for our glorified corn-beef hash.”

1938

“A new function is developing” for the Harvard Summer School, state the Bulletin’s editors. “Thoughtful adults are discovering that the rapidly changing life of this dynamic world makes education a continuous process which can never be completed at any specified age or date. Many are turning to the summer school for opportunities to continue their intellectual growth, to increase their athletic enjoyment, and to gain new vitality for the obligations of modern life.”

1943

The Fogg Museum rearranges its storage areas to protect works of art in the event of an enemy bombardment of Cambridge.

1963

On the Peace Corps’ second anniversary, the 43 College alumni serving abroad place Harvard second only to Berkeley as a source of A.B.s in the Corps.

1978

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences discusses the proposed “Core Program,” described by its chief proponent, Dean Henry Rosovsky, as “not [going] back to basics—I detest that phrase—but forward to modern liberal education.”

2003 

President Lawrence H. Summers unveils a “down payment” on financial aid, focusing on the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the public-service-related professional schools, including a package of grants and no-fee, below-market-rate loans.

Related topics

You might also like

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

Nobel Prize recipient Joseph E. Murray dedicated much of his career to organ transplant surgery.

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

Most popular

An animal’s journey from grief to love shows how much humans need each other, too.

The former economics concentrator brings his talent for crunching numbers to netminding.

The retired government professor has been a rare conservative voice on campus for decades.

Explore More From Current Issue

Star-filled night sky with the Milky Way arching over a rocky silhouette.

There’s a growing movement to curb light pollution. It starts on your front porch.

A profile illustration of a man surrounded by colorful, whimsical text in multiple languages.

For both American and international students, growing up is like learning a new language.

Singer performing on stage with a guitar, wearing a hat, and surrounded by band instruments.

Singer Elisa Smith’s whiskey-soaked voice and subversive feminism is part of the genre’s urban shift.