Humanities

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

Ken Burns on America’s Unfinished Revolution

At Radcliffe, the filmmaker joined Harvard historians to discuss what the nation’s founding means today.

by Lydialyle Gibson

Namwali Serpell

The professor of English is also a novelist and a critic.

by Jonathan Shaw

Musician and professor Braxton Shelley

A gospel scholar shapes music theory.

by Jacob Sweet

Humanities and democratic discourse belong together

Active citizens are humanists.

by Doris Sommer

Secretaries’ role in history of information

From a huge new book on the history of information, an excerpt on the role of secretaries

An intellectual history of the Cold War era

In a new book, Louis Menand probes the cultural currents of postwar America.

by Spencer Lee Lenfield

Peabody Museum Discovers Possible Slave Remains in Its Collections

“We must begin to confront the reality of a past in which academic curiosity and opportunity overwhelmed humanity,” Harvard president Lawrence Bacow wrote. 

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Harvard Portrait: Cassandra Albinson

A curator takes a fresh look at portraits of aristocratic European women.

by Jonathan Shaw

At Home with Harvard: Election Day

In a year like no other, read a selection of Harvard Magazine stories on the forces that will shape the presidential election outcome. 

See Their Faces

Confronting “some of the most challenging images in the history of photography”

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Harvard Portrait: Mayra Rivera

How apocalyptic narratives help make sense of the modern world

by Lydialyle Gibson