The College Pump

Cover of "Harvard's Best" featuring a woman in a red and black gown holding a sword.

A Forgotten Harvard Anthem

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

Historic photo of Harvard Commencement 1915

Moveable Feast

Commencement venues through the ages

by Primus IV

Historic portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson

On Commencements

Emerson’s oratory backstory, somber reunion notes, and happier days

by Primus VI

John Harvard two-ounce, 56-cent stamp from 1986, honoring University’s 350th anniversary

Fancy Footwork

Engineering for runners, the John Harvard stamp, tweaking Dr. Oz

by Primus VI

Photo of new book on Harvard and Radcliffe presidents

Small-Town Roots

Professors’ humble beginnings, concentration choices, and a mini history of Harvard and Radcliffe presidents

by Primus VI

Photograph of a pet hamster, dyed Yale blue, for a humor piece about Yale admissions

Memorable Mentors

Richard Lewontin, Richard Zeckhauser, diplomatic security, diverse inclusion, and admissions agita lampooned

by Primus VI

Photographic portrait of James Agee

Origin Stories

Bow and Arrow’s mechanic, James Agee’s creative turbulence

by Primus VI

Portrait photograph of Sidney Verba

Sidney Verba, and a classy class reporter

Harvard’s mensch, and a record-setting recorder of Crimson lives

by Primus VI

Photograph of Harvard economist Martin Feldstein

Wilbur Cross, Martin Feldstein, and Charles William Eliot

Wisdom from the Great Depression—plus an accomplished economist, and rowdiness on the Charles

by Primus VI

Photograph of architect H.H. Richardson’s house

The College Pump

Classy masks, dapper archaeologist, saving H.H. Richardson’s house

by Primus VI

Photograph of Rob Gogan, retired recycling director and acute observer of nature on campus

Harvard’s naturalist, acronym guide, distracted professor at work

The campus’s Mr. Green, accessing acronyms, mathematician at work, and a distracted astronomer

by Primus VI