Humanities & Arts

Explore the intellectual and creative pursuits within philosophy, history, literature, and the fine arts at Harvard.

Being Undocumented in America

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s writing aims to challenge assumptions. 

by Nina Pasquini

The Sum of Our Choices

On the limitations of a prevailing worldview

The Franklin Stove—A Historical Climate Change Adaptation

Historian Joyce E. Chaplin reinterprets an early era of invention, industrialization, and climate challenge

by Joyce E. Chaplin

The Trump Administration's Impact on Higher Education

Unprecedented federal actions against research funding, diversity, speech, and more

by John S. Rosenberg

Harvard Percussionist and Composer Jessie Cox

An experimental percussionist-composer pushing the limits of music

by Lydialyle Gibson

Remembering Harvard Professor and Composer Earl Kim

A documentary revisits the composer and Harvard professor’s music.

by Nina Pasquini

The Office for the Arts Turns 50

A birthday party with song, dance, and speech

by Max J. Krupnick

Five Questions with Professor Peter Der Manuelian

Harvard professor of Egyptology on unsolved mysteries, cats, and the beauty of ancient craftsmanship

by Olivia Farrar

Galileo's Compass and the Art of Branding

How Galileo’s geometric and military compass helped him calculate his own ascent

by Nina Pasquini

Leslie Jamison on Isolation, Empathy, and Selfhood

The essayist on isolation, empathy, and selfhood

by Nina Pasquini

A Contentious Era for U.S. Higher Education

President emeritus Neil L. Rudenstine on changes in the academy and society that made universities more contentious—and diminished support for humane learning

by Neil L. Rudenstine