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Boasting sleeker lines, a darker red binding, and a more stylish interior than its recent predecessors, this year's edition of the twenty-fifth anniversary (more popularly, reunion) report, produced for the class of 1974, reflects a general refurbishment of that venerable alumni publication, says Anita Pariseau, director of the Class Report Office.
The earliest official twenty-fifth report at the University Archives dates to 1858: a 51-page volume published by Metcalf and Company, then "Printers to the University," for the 55-man class of 1833. With today's reunioning classes of men and women numbering more than 25 times that size, the cost of paper and postage had Pariseau already busy investigating ways to streamline production when the 1998 restructuring of Harvard's printing and publications services removed her long-time printer.
The newest twenty-fifth report, as redesigned by Reunion Press ("owned by a Princeton man," Pariseau teases) and printed by Fry Communications (owned by Henry Fry '59), has the text wrapping around, rather than lying below, the traditional "before and after" photographs of class members. That brought the volume in at a mere 880 pages, compared to the 1,100-page report of the year before, even though 777 of the 1,450 questionnaires mailed to the class of '74 came back, versus 657 from '73. The finished product (suggested contribution, $100) should be in the hands of its target audience by late April, ready for review.