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John Harvard's Journal

Yesterday’s News

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

March-April 2023

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

Illustration by Mark Steele


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.

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Cartoon of Harvard Band’s large drum

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Archibald Henry Grimke in 1927

Archibald Henry Grimke in 1927

Courtesy Schomburg Library, New York Public Library

Archibald Henry Grimke

The John Harvard statue, with books at hand

John Harvard statue, with books at hand

Photograph by Brian Snyder/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo

John Harvard, Reader

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Cartoon of Harvard Band’s large drum

Illustration by Mark Steele

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Archibald Henry Grimke in 1927

Archibald Henry Grimke in 1927

Courtesy Schomburg Library, New York Public Library

Archibald Henry Grimke

The John Harvard statue, with books at hand

John Harvard statue, with books at hand

Photograph by Brian Snyder/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo

John Harvard, Reader