Harvard History

Stories that explore the institution’s rich history, from archival moments to evolving traditions.

Wadsworth House with green shutters and red brick chimneys, surrounded by trees and other buildings.

Wadsworth House Nears 300

The building is a microcosm of Harvard’s history—and the history of the United States.

by Primus VI

Illustration depicting a summer-school student sunbathing on the steps of Widener Library

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Historic portrait of Henry Clarke Warren

Henry Clarke Warren

Brief life of a Harvard-educated Buddhist scholar: 1854-1899

by David Gauld

Harvard Business School logo on a campus cornhole board

Over the River Dept.

Cornhole at HBS, prayer and meditation at SEAS, minerologist’s meter, eclipse aficionado

by Primus VI

Bob Odenkirk and Jennifer Coolidge

Bob Odenkirk and Jennifer Coolidge Are Hasty Pudding’s Man and Woman of the Year

The honorees will visit Cambridge next week for a parade, a show, and a (loving) roast.

by Nancy Walecki

Illustration of Cambridge in deep snow, not cleaned up

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Henry Rosovsky

Farewell

Remembering Henry Rosovsky

Fernando Zóbel-Montojo

Brief life of an abstract painter: 1924-1984

by Felipe Pereda

Elif Batuman

The “Harvard Novel” Enters the Twenty-first Century

On Elif Batuman’s fictions

by Beth Blum

Cover of Chinese edition of book, Harvard A to Z

Bookish

Course catalog redux, a Chinese take on Harvard “glitz and glamour,” and the mathmetician-movie buff

by Primus VI

Official portrait of Lawrence H. Summers

Portraying Larry Summers

Celebrating the twenty-seventh president—and assessing his legacy

by John S. Rosenberg