Yesterday's News
From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine
1915
A group of 800 Harvard-educated farmers claim the right to
call their organization the "Harvard Farmers Association." A letter
to the Bulletin's editor doubts that "such a proposed association
of farmers would be likely to besmirch the fair name of their college."
1920
"Graduates' Day" attracts 160 alumni to learn about "progress
in the University," including new admission requirements, new freshman
dorms, and the new requirement for compulsory physical education.
1925
The Associated Harvard Clubs' Committee on Service to the
University suggests that descendants of Harvard graduates be given
preference in the admission process; the editors of the Bulletin
write, "Inbreeding within the student body would be quite as dangerous
for the College itself as inbreeding in the Faculty would be. The
latter kind of limitation has not been observed at Harvard in our
memory; the former kind never should be established."
1930
The Harvard Botanic Garden is shifted to "scientific, rather
than horticultural purposes"; "cultivation of decorative plants [is]
reduced to a minimum."
1940
A poll of seniors for the 1940 class album reports that 52
percent anticipate a life "characterized by possible social and cultural
turmoil, crisis, and catastrophe"; 56 percent feel the New Deal "should
be either halted and abandoned or curtailed and modified"; and 18
percent believed Western culture is declining--though one man writes,
"I don't know--will have to wait until the next Marx Bros. picture
comes out."
1950
Even though the 50-year-old shout "Oh, Rinehart!"--Harvard's
traditional rallying cry--has become "nearly extinct...On April 28...[it]
rang out again across the Yard. It was late in the evening and lasted
less than 10 minutes, but the cry was unmistakable. With proper care,"
the editors write, "'Oh, Rinehart!' may yet usher out the century
in the beginnings of which it was first heard."
1955
Seniors are relieved when Civil Defense officials declare
the University area exempt from a nationwide hydrogen bomb test-alert
scheduled for the morning of Commencement. "The news brought welcome
reassurance that H still stands first for Harvard, second for Hydrogen."
1965
After finding news from a Radcliffe graduate in the class
of '63 notes, an irate alumnus writes, "If Radcliffe alumnae...must
indeed appear in the Bulletin, why can't they be given a separate
section...?" and suggests that Harvard men begin to send notes to
the Radcli!=e Quarterly in retaliation. [Harvard degrees were
first granted to Radcliffe seniors in 1963, making them alumnae of
Harvard College as well as Harvard University.]
1975
Class Day speaker Dick Gregory tells seniors, "You must offer your
services to save the needy from the greedy....Universities have to
teach how to live, and get out of the business of teaching how to
make a living."
