John Harvard's Journal
Yesterday's News
From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine
1921
In a story that catches national attention, two freshmen propose inserting a huge crossbar between the two chimneys of the Boston Elevated Railway’s powerhouse, near the freshman dorms, forming a giant H—thus transforming an unattractive spot into a beautiful yet effective advertisement for Harvard. “Sweet are the uses of advertisement,” quips the Bulletin.
1936
The heaviest double-eclipsing star and the heaviest star ever accurately measured to date—29 Canis Majoris, 23 million times the weight of Earth—has been discovered by Sergei I. Gaposchkin of the Harvard Observatory staff through the study of photos taken at the observatory.
1941
President Roosevelt sends President Conant and two other scientists to England to observe recent scientific research there as a means ofimproving American research on national-defense problems.
1961
Noting that the College’s Central Kitchen has installed automatic milk-pouring machines in four House dining halls, the Bulletin’s Undergraduate reports seeing one fail to turn itself off—and expresses hope that the dining-hall staff “will never be replaceable by machines.”
The Bulletin estimates that 30 to 40 alumni or faculty members have already been named to high-level jobs in the new Kennedy administration.
1966
Male undergraduates debate the wisdom of allowing Radcliffe students to use Lamont Library, but vote to give voting rights to three Radcliffe representatives on the Harvard Policy Committee, the student government organization.
1981
After more than a year in captivity, the American embassy hostages in Tehran are freed, among them Elizabeth Ann Swift ’62, John W. Limbert ’64, Ph.D. ’74, and Moorhead C. Kennedy, J.D. ’58.
1996
Refurbished, rechristened Annenberg Hall opens to student diners for spring semester, as major renovations begin turning the Harvard Union into a humanities complex, the Barker Center.
2006
A January posting on the University’s employment website reveals that the College seeks a “Director of Internal Communications,” a new position, “to assume leadership of branding efforts” to further a strategic priority: “building a Harvard College community” by creating a “unified brand” for publications and web-based media.