The College Pump

Jack Reardon waves

The College Pump | July-August 2025

Tips of the Hat(s)

On regalia, a Jack-of-all-trades retirement, and a Bok’s office bon mot.

by Primus VI

Kahlil Gibran's likeness of Harvard president Charles William Eliot, drawn in 1910

The College Pump | March-April 2012

Cold Meets Flame

The prophet (Gibran) and the president (Eliot), plus Arnoldia turns 100.

Peter Sellars

The College Pump | January-February 2012

Under the Bar

An Upstairs at the Pudding girlhood, and undergraduate impresario Peter Sellars at Adams House

One of the earliest American football posters, done for <i>Harper’s</i> in 1894 by Edward Penfield. This example, in B+ condition, sold at a Swann Galleries auction August 3 in New York City for $1,320, including buyer’s premium. In 1894 Yale beat Harvard 12-4.

The College Pump | November-December 2011

The Master Leads

Robert J. Kiely on gay rights at Adams House, plus the Harvard M.B.A. Indicator

The College Pump | September-October 2011

“The Tug of History”

Reunion reflections from David Souter, and a tribute to Carroll Wood

The U.S. Postal Service on June 16 issued a first-class stamp honoring botanist Asa Gray. A natural history professor, Gray also founded the Harvard Summer School 140 years ago. The stamp shows plants that he studied as well as the words <i>Shortia galacifolia</i> in his own hand. The story of his epic quest for that plant is told at http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/838.pdf.

The College Pump | July-August 2011

Guerrillas in the Yard

Undercover training during World War II, and more on varsity ties

Monty: Check him out.

The College Pump | May-June 2011

Granny Talk

Edward Everett aids Mount Vernon; Monty aids law students; Drew Faust eyes the pay of William James.

Neckties distinguished athletes in 14 major sports, with a generic tie for all minor sports, says Renny Little, curator (pro bono) of the Lee Family Hall of Athletic History. Here (from left) are those for football, soccer, cross country, track and field, ice hockey, swimming, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse, baseball, lightweight crew, golf, and minor sports. Missing are those for heavyweight crew and squash.

The College Pump | March-April 2011

Mysteries

A spirit house at Adams House, and how athletes tied one on

Chester M. Pierce, professor of education and psychiatry emeritus, lecturing in the Ether Dome at Massachusetts General Hospital. Apollo stands behind him.

The College Pump | January-February 2011

New Faces

Steven Coit's portraits diversify Harvard's walls, and the 1947 football team defies racism.

The College Pump | November-December 2010

How to Have Flu

Delicacies from Rommel's chef at Stillman Infirmary, plus gastronomical lectures from Ferran Adrià and peers

A signpost outside a gray wall at Pavlodar State University, in northern Kazakhstan, points the way to the red brick of Harvard and the gleaming spires of Oxford and Cambridge. Daniel Gutterman, LL.B. ’55, of New York City, took the photograph this spring when he taught business transactions and law at Innovative University of Eurasia, also in Pavlodar.

The College Pump | September-October 2010

Brat. Faker.

Recollections of David Halberstam and Harry Levin