Harvard History

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

A man sitting at a wooden table in a formal setting with portraits on the wall.

Cambridge Once Fought Harvard’s DNA Research. Now There’s a Play About It.

A theatrical reenactment explores a 1976 clash between science and democracy.

by Laurel M. Shugart

Ursula Bailey working in a Harvard geology laboratory, 1945

Trailblazer in Space Science: The Legacy of Harvard's Ursula B. Marvin

Brief life of a pioneering planetary geologist: 1921-2018

by David A. Kring

The late professors Roy J. Glauber and Henry Rosovsky

Origin Stories

Eminent professors’ life foundations

by Primus VI

Cartoon of Anne Pusey redecoration president’s house 1953

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Memorial Church

Henry Rosovsky Memorial Service May 31

President Bacow invites the community to remember a Harvard giant.

by John S. Rosenberg

Photograph of Sarah Kariko ’90 operating a letterpress at the Bow & Arrow Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Eviction of the Bow & Arrow Press

The Adams House space that gave the letterpress studio its name will become a student common room.

by Craig Lambert

Cartoon of Harvard Band’s large drum

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

The John Harvard statue, with books at hand

John Harvard, Reader

John Harvard’s reading matter, a scholar poet, the towering John Fox

by Primus VI

John Hume, Ted Kennedy, Tip O'Neill

Hume, Heaney, Harvard—and Peace in Northern Ireland

In life and literature, living “dangerously out between” opposing factions while seeking common ground

by Marilynn Richtarik

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