Headlines from Harvard's history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Illustration by Mark Steele

1913

In response to a petition from the Woodrow Wilson Club of Harvard, a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court rules that college students may vote in Cambridge if they make the city their domicile, even though the parents who support them live elsewhere.

1928

The Harvard Club of Boston has introduced “the most novel of winter resorts”—a tanning salon. At 50 cents a sun bath, “over 300 men visit the beach regularly” to take their ease, clad only in goggles. Beginners are allowed two or three minutes a side; the “hardened” have 10 each way, and not a minute more.  

1933

Lampoon editors sneak into the Crimson building and publish a spoof “extra” announcing the selection of “Henry E. Clarke ’04… a [nonexistent] business Messiah” as Harvard’s new president.

1958

For the first time in its history, the Harvard Fund Campaign has garnered more than a million dollars in a single year.

The Phillips Brooks House Association has officially merged with the Radcliffe Voluntary Service Organization, following the pathbreaking coeducational initiatives of the College’s United Nations Council and the Harvard Dramatic Club.

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

At its March and April meetings, 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.”

1993

About 50 students from the newly formed Minority Coalition for Diversity make an unscheduled appearance during the College’s Junior Parents Weekend to denounce “Harvard’s failure to realize institutional diversity.” 

Related topics

You might also like

Yesterday’s News

How a book on fighting the “Devill World” survived Harvard’s historic fire.

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

The quirky 1833 home now hosts Celtic scholars.

A Forgotten Harvard Anthem

Published the year the Titanic sank, “Harvard’s Best” is a quizzical ode to the University.

Most popular

Trump Administration Sues Harvard over Civil Rights

The March 20 suit seeks to rescind research grants that were restored in an earlier court ruling.

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.

Radcliffe Acquires a Black Feminist’s Archive

An architect of Black women’s studies, Barbara Smith introduced the concepts of “identity politics” and “intersectionality.”

Explore More From Current Issue

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.

Older man in a green sweater holds a postcard in a warmly decorated office.

How a Harvard Hockey Legend Became a Needlepoint Artist

Joe Bertagna’s retirement project recreates figures from Boston sports history.

A person climbs a curved ladder against a colorful background and four vertical ladders.

Harvard’s Productivity Trap

What happened to doing things for the sake of enjoyment?