Museums & Collections

Discover treasures from Harvard’s museums and special collections, from ancient artifacts to modern art.

Smiling woman stands beside a large skull in a display cabinet.

Don’t Call Stephanie Pierce A Paleontologist

From competing in youth gymnastics to studying tetrapods, the Harvard curator has always chased her curiosity.

by Laurel M. Shugart

A drawing of students rebelling in a dining hall.

The much-shrunken class of 1823

The Class of 1823 goes rogue and gets booted.

by Jacob Sweet

Aerial view of Essex Bay, part of the coastline north of Boston.

Essex, Massachusetts, coastline history

Exploring the coastal wonders of Essex, Massachusetts

by Nell Porter-Brown

View of the Royall House and the slave quarters.

Medford’s Royall House and Slave Quarters

Preserving black history as “an act of liberation”

by Nell Porter-Brown

The U.S. Army's 24th Infantry Regiment, an African-American regiment, arriving at Camp Wiloff in Montauk, New York, 1898

Bringing Black History to Light

A Houghton Library project to digitize thousands of African-American records and artifacts

by Lydialyle Gibson

How Harvard Handled the 1918 Flu Pandemic

Fall semester interrupted, a century ago

by Matteo Wong

Map of New York City, 1895

How the Lines Get Bent

Curator Garrett Dash Nelson ’09 on the Boston Public Library’s exhibition of “persuasive cartography” 

by Matteo Wong

Envelope of an old letter

A World War II love story from the Schlesinger Library archives

A wartime life together—cut short

by Blythe Grossberg

Views of Boston from the arboretum's Peters Hill

Summertime at the Arnold Arboretum

Summertime at the Arnold Arboretum

by Nell Porter-Brown

Transforming Portraiture and the World

Alumnus-commissioned paintings of global luminaries are now a landmark gift to the National Portrait Gallery.

by Julia Ostmann

Margaret Mee painting of yellow trumpet tree

Rainforest flora images by Margaret Mee

Botanical bounty at Dumbarton Oaks

by John S. Rosenberg