Retrospection
Peruvians workers at site of construction of Bruce Building, Harvard College Observatory, Arequipa, Peru
Peruvians workers work on the Bruce Building at Harvard College Observatory, Arequipa, Peru.
Mount Harvard Cover
In the late 19th to early 20th century, the Harvard College Observatory set up a field station in Arequipa, Peru to document the skies of the Southern hemisphere.
Susan Sontag
But for Sontag, no word went unqualified, no word was left without its own definition to her, not “Camp,” not “illness,” not even “I,” and certainly not “writer.”
Astronomical Imperialism: Harvard In the Peruvian Skies
The data collected by Harvard College Observatory in Arequipa in the late 19th to early 20th century, is foundational in the study of astronomy and has furthered our understanding of the cosmos. But this type of cross-continental scientific undertaking cannot be separated from its impact on its workers — both the Indigenous people building Harvard facilities in Peru and the low-paid women astronomers in Cambridge.
The Ghost of Susan Sontag
“The Self as a Project.” That’s what Sontag told Charlie Rose she was working on when she wasn’t writing. The grand irony is that she took that noble aspiration of the liberal arts colleges she swore off and made it hers: teaching people how to think.
Walter Gilbert
Walter Gilbert ’53, who would share the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for DNA research involving DNA, remembers the debate over the safety of recombinant DNA research playing out “inside the University in several meetings” before spilling out into the public.
Testing ‘God’s Law’: Advent of Recombinant DNA Research Struck Fear into Cambridge
Recombinant DNA research helped lay the groundwork for modern medicine. But, before Harvard could build a laboratory to do it, University scientists had to overcome the staunch fears that the pioneering technique was safe.
Elsa Dorfman, Harvard Square’s Attendant of Instants
Follow the life and legacy of photographer Elsa Dorfman, longtime Cambridge resident and former Mather House adviser. Understanding Dorfman means understanding both the brevity and the universality of the moments she captures.
Mather Students Elsa Dorfman
When she was director of the Mather darkroom, Dorfman took portraits of the students. Scribbled in ink beneath five students clutching toy trucks and stuffed animals are the names of accomplished students and aspiring businesspeople, attorneys, writers, and doctors. Though, in their portrait, they are how Dorfman saw them: youthful, unsure, and a bit angsty.
Ginsberg Dylan Elsa Dorfman
Allen Ginsberg looks down at Bob Dylan’s left hand as Dylan shapes a D chord on his fretboard, casually holding a cigarette in his other hand. This photo hangs in Harvard’s Office of the President.
Elsa Dorfman and Her Giant Camera
Around 1980, Dorfman acquired one of the six large-scale Polaroid Land 20x24 cameras. The camera produced prints that were two feet tall. Dorfman’s style was soon characterized by these massive, unique portraits.
Elsa Dorfman Dress
Dorfman poses with a bright red dress. Today, each room of her family residence is covered wall-to-wall in a gallery of original prints, handwritten notes, and the art of friends and artists who she and her husband gave lodging to.
The Aftertaste: A Look Back on Harvard Square’s Beloved Tasty Diner
Harvard alumni who frequented the burger joint carry a sort of oral history of Tasty stories. Almost every person we interviewed sent us the names of more friends, promising fresh fables.
Tasty Diner Picture
The Tasty Sandwich Shop, a diner restaurant in Cambridge, open from 1916 to 1997 at 6 John F. Kennedy St. Behind the counter is chef Don Valcovic, on the right is Al Nidle, publisher of Street Magazine in the late 1980s. The restaurant’s customers ranged from long-time residents to students from Harvard University to bankers and businessmen, all mixing informally. Originally published on page 247 in "Dirty Old Boston," 2014.
Cover Let's Go Graphic
“Let’s Go,” was a travel guide written and produced by student members of Harvard Student Agencies. Today, it has all but disappeared from travelers’ pockets, from the internet, and from Harvard’s campus.
Let’s Go: Gone at 63
“Let’s Go” was a travel guide written and produced by student members of Harvard Student Agencies. Today, it has all but disappeared from travelers’ pockets, from the internet, and from Harvard’s campus.
wimmins comix
Issue 14 of "Wimmin's Comix," titled "Disastrous Relationships." “It Ain’t Me Babe” newspaper was created by the organization Berkeley Women’s Liberation and led to the development of “Wimmen’s Comix,” which was run collectively by female artists from 1972 to 1992. Both are held in collections by the Harvard Schlesinger Library.
(Comic) Stripping Down the Patriarchy
These scenes are from the panels in “Breaking Out,” one of the stories in the July 1970 edition of “It Ain’t Me Babe Comix,” in which popular female comic characters revolt against the men dominating their lives and defy their creators. The “uprooted sisters” team up “into small groups not unlike witch covens” and go picketing for women’s history and self-defense classes. They consider if they should “take that acid we’ve been saving and commune with the moon,” while Supergirl frees the inmates of a women’s prison.
Ain't Me Babe
“It Ain’t Me Babe Comix” was the first entirely women-created comic book. Coupled with the revolutionary spirit of 1960s movements for Civil Rights and against the Vietnam War, second-wave feminism advocated for women’s reproductive rights, job opportunities, and freedom from sexual assault and harassment.
Morison map
Through this journey, Samuel Eliot Morison sought to determine once and for all whether Columbus had sailed to the Americas based on his nautical talent, or if he ended up there by chance.
Pfoho Cookbook
Made in 2005, “Pfoho Cookbook” features dozens of creative 5-step recipes highlighting the best Pforzheimer House dhall creations.