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Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898

November-December 2020

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Letters

Stimulus funds, meritocracy, enlarging history, and more

President Bacow on the engaged upside to online teaching and learning

Educational, financial, political, and values issues challenge Harvard’s leaders—and the University community.

The College Pump

Historic photograph of Charles Follen Cabot, Civil War soldier, standing, in uniform

Photograph courtesy of W. Todd Groce

A Civil War image and an Empire State Building homage

Treasure

Photograph of Edo era fan depicting Mount Fuji and Mount Tsukuba on alternate sides

Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums/Promised gift of Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg

This folding fan enfolds two sacred mountains.

In this Issue

An illustration showing a teacher sitting on an enormous open book with students on screens hovering around her, some raising their hands to ask questions

Illustration by Daniel Baxter

Students, faculty, and staff adjust to a changed landscape.

Ross Douthat standing in a wooded park

Ross Douthat sees American society stagnating amid tired culture wars and a gridlocked political system.

Photograph by Stu Rosner

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat’s journey through American decadence and upheaval

Portrait photograph of a middle-aged Lorenzo Tañada as a Philippine senator

Lorenzo Tañada as a senator (in an undated portrait) 

Portrait courtesy of the National Library of the Philippines /Wikipedia/Public Domain

Brief life of a Philippine patriot: 1898-1992

A California hillside burns

Wildfires in California are one example of climate-change damages happening now.

Photograph by Kyle Grillot/AFP via Getty Images

Coming to terms with climate change’s relentless, long-term fallout

Letters

Stimulus funds, meritocracy, enlarging history, and more

President Bacow on the engaged upside to online teaching and learning

Educational, financial, political, and values issues challenge Harvard’s leaders—and the University community.

Right Now

An abstract illustration of a branching tree shows the varying outcomes of government spending on programs that benefit children

Illustration by Mike Austin

Economic analysis of U.S. government spending shows that some social programs more than pay for themselves.

Abstract illustration of an elderly man balanced on the edge of a half globe filled with brain gray matter

Illustration by Barbara Dekeyser

Dementia is decreasing in Europe and North America. Why not the rest of the world?

Abstract illustration of a woman’s upper torso in silhouette, overlayed with small images suggesting medical research

Illustration by Mark Allen Miller

A portable, simple testing technology promises accurate breast-cancer diagnosis and treatment in low- and middle-income countries.

Harvard Squared

Majestic twentieth-century stone castle perched on Gloucester coastline

At first glance, Hammond’s Gloucester home could be mistaken for a transplanted European castle.

Photograph by Lovely Valentine Photography/Courtesy of Hammond Castle

Gothic surroundings, spiritualism, and science: Hammond Castle Museum’s eclectic appeal

Claude Monet's painting of clouds, fields, and poplars

Meadow with Poplars (circa 1875)

Claude Monet/Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts

Winter exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts

Outdoors at Boston's Armenian Heritage Park

Armenian Heritage Park

Photograph by Yerevanci/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

Scavenger-hunting in historic Boston

Groovy clocks from The Glass House

Photograph courtesy of The Glass House

Holiday gifts that support the arts

Craigie on Main was remade into Craigie Next Door

Photograph by Rachel Manzier/Metter Media/Courtesy of Craigie on Main

Independent restaurants struggle in the pandemic.

A display rack holding colorful men’s bow ties

Colorful bow ties from The Andover Shop

Photograph courtesy of The Andover Shop

Harvard Square venues offer warmth, cheer, and appetizing fare.

John Harvard's Journal

Photograph of Harvard Science Center tent where arriving first-year College students began virus-testing procedures

This fall’s welcome to Harvard Yard began with PPE-equipped greeters, virus testing, and pre-isolation meal kits.

Photograph by Kristina DeMichele/Harvard Magazine

A semester conducted in the shadow of the coronavirus

Headshot portrait of Mayra Rivera

Mayra Rivera

Photograph by Steph Stevens

How apocalyptic narratives help make sense of the modern world

The First Circuit Court of Appeals will rule on a much-watched lawsuit that could determine the future of affirmative action.

Graph shows rise in Harvard endowment over fiscal year from $40.9 billion to $41.9 billion.

The endowment’s recent upward trajectory continued, as it was valued at $41.9 billion at the end of the fiscal year.

The endowment increases to $41.9 billion, and Harvard Management Company reports a 7.3 percent return on investments.

In Harvard Yard, workers unload gigantic heads of lettuce and other greens from a truck prominently labeled United Farm Workers as students celebrate the University's decision to support the union workers by buying only UFW-certified produce.

Illustration by Mark Steele

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Photograph of Sheree Ohen, newly named Faculty of Arts and Sciences associate dean of diversity, inclusion, and belonging

Sheree Ohen, associate dean of diversity, inclusion, and belonging

Photograph by Kayana Szymczak

Racial justice efforts, “Lowell?” House, and more

A consequential change in the composition of and elections for the Board of Overseers

Detail of a handwritten page from suffragist Susan B. Anthony’s journal, used as an example of the kinds of manuscripts volunteers are transcribing for Harvard libraries and archives.

Suffragist Susan B. Anthony’s journal displays handwriting much finer than that in many manuscripts. Who did the underlining is unknown.

Detail from: A-143, folder 8, p. 2. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute

Volunteer transcribers help make Harvard library documents accessible.

Drawing of a college student seated at her desk in her bedroom at home, looking at images of friends on her computer screen. On the desk are a book and a bowl of salad, reflecting recommendations made by friends previously.

Illustration by Amelia Flower/Folio Art

The Undergraduate considers friendships on and away from campus.

Master Yon Lee extends his hands in a tai chi pose.

Master Yon Lee leads a beginner tai chi course on the MAC Quad.

Photograph by Kris Snibbe/HPAC

The healing of Master Yon Lee

Montage

Black and white photo of a group of Vietnamese children, titled “Schoolchildren Playing Cards”

In college, Mark Erickson returned to his birthplace, capturing his experience in photographs such as those shown here, all taken in Hanoi. This is “Schoolchildren Playing Cards.”

Photograph by and courtesy of Mark Erickson

Photographer Mark Erickson on the Vietnam he never knew

Dan Chiasson at home in front of a “sometimes delightful, sometimes disturbing” mural by David Teng Olsen, which appears in The Math Campers.

Dan Chiasson at home in front of a “sometimes delightful, sometimes disturbing” mural by David Teng Olsen, which appears in The Math Campers.

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Poet-critic Dan Chiasson and The Math Campers

Illustration of bearded farmer, from anthology of Yiddish children’s literature

Yitzchak Lichtenstein/From the book

Miriam Udel’s passion for children and Yiddish children’s literature

Black-and-white photograph of Karl Puchner in 1937 with his wife, young son, and a tiny, barely visible swastika button on his jacket

In a June 1937 photo, Karl Puchner posed with his wife and son Günter—and a tiny swastika button, which his younger son discovered years later by using a magnifying glass.

Photograph courtesy of Martin Puchner

A German American scholar is unsettled by an ancestor’s secret.

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Photograph of cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie from the book “Science and Cooking”

Applied science in the kitchen: a cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie, from Science and Cooking

Courtesy of W.W. Norton and Company

Recent books with Harvard connections

An illustration of social capital, the subject of the book being reviewed, in the form of an individual versus a group working together

Illustration by Kotryna Zukauskaite

In search of optimism, a sweeping interpretation of American social history

Alumni

Photograph of Louisa Thomas standing outside

Louisa Thomas

Photograph by T.J. Kirkpatrick

Louisa Thomas takes a different view.

Harvard undergraduates Jorge Campos and Reeda Iqbal

Jorge Campos and Reeda Iqbal

Seniors who’ve enhanced Harvard House life

Photo portraits of the 2020 Miller-Hunn Award winners

The College Admissions Office’s 2020 Miller-Hunn Award winners

Portrait photos of HAA Award winners

Six alumni are honored for significant volunteer service.

The Alumni Association’s new elected directors

The College Pump

Historic photograph of Charles Follen Cabot, Civil War soldier, standing, in uniform

Photograph courtesy of W. Todd Groce

A Civil War image and an Empire State Building homage

Treasure

Photograph of Edo era fan depicting Mount Fuji and Mount Tsukuba on alternate sides

Photograph courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums/Promised gift of Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg

This folding fan enfolds two sacred mountains.