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Harvard Traditions
Costume Catwalk
Campus & Community
By: Kris Snibbe/
November 12, 2009
In October, Freshman Parents Weekend fills campus with mothers and fathers eager to and experience all aspects of Harvard life.
Harvard's Weld Boathouse has been enchanting rowers and residents for more than 100 years.
Tea time at Harvard is a longstanding tradition. The Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes remarks on drinking tea at Harvard in 1968 while drinking tea today.
Opening Days makes the most of it
The arrival of first-year students in Harvard Yard is always accompanied by the hustle and bustle of activities during freshman orientation — or Opening Days as it’s known at Harvard.
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Annenberg Hall, arguably the most extraordinary 9,000 square feet on Harvard’s campus, has served since 1874 as a gathering place, dance hall, Commencement location, reception venue, exam hall, and, since 1994, as the dining hall reserved for freshmen in Harvard College.
In honor of his retirement from the Divinity School’s Hollis Chair, Harvey Cox exercised his right to graze a cow in Harvard Yard.
Harvard Rituals, a view into traditions across the University.
Class of 2013 experiences first convocation
An official convocation ceremony took the place of the traditional opening exercises for Harvard College’s Class of 2013. The service included some new and old traditions.
Faust delivers first Morning Prayers of academic year
Harvard President Drew Faust, following long tradition by leading the academic year’s first Morning Prayers service at Appleton Chapel, praised the sense of common purpose brought by a coordinated School calendar. “We have chosen a common calendar for the common good,” she said.
Highlights from a memorable Commencement
On June 4, administrators sighed with relief at the weather, speakers went over their notes, and graduates congregated in black-tasseled flocks alongside a rainbow of professors in their own caps and gowns. Meanwhile, the Harvard Gazette staff fanned out across the campus on Commencement day to pick a rainbow of their own — colorful accounts of the long, happy day. Read about the oldest graduates — and the youngest. Watch Divinity School angels take off, and see Medical School grads wearing surgical masks. Hear the bells peal and maestro Wynton Marsalis play “America the Beautiful.”
A peal of bells will ring throughout Cambridge next week, on June 4. For the 21st consecutive year a number of neighboring churches and institutions will ring their bells in celebration of the city of Cambridge and of Harvard’s 358th Commencement Exercises.
A special notice regarding Commencement Exercises
Morning Exercises To accommodate the increasing number of those wishing to attend Harvard’s Commencement Exercises, the following guidelines are proposed to facilitate admission into Tercentenary Theatre on Commencement Morning (June 4):
Zellweger adds Hasty Pudding Pot to trophy shelf
Academy Award-winning actress Renée Zellweger proves she is worthy of the shiny Pudding Pot that comes with being named the Woman of the Year by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.
December 1899 - December 1921
Sept. 1, 1922 — The Divinity School and the Andover Theological Seminary formally begin a closer affiliation under a new agreement approved in the spring.
Déjà vu marks Opening Exercises
During the Saturday night (Sept. 6) downpour, brought on by tropical storm Hannah, a circuit breaker tripped, plunging Adams House into darkness. While Harvard electricians tracked down the problem, freshmen were sent over to the Science Center for food, movies, and an impromptu meeting with President Drew Faust.
Sept. 7, 1775 — The “New-England Chronicle or Essex Gazette” advertises that the Harvard Corporation and Overseers have chosen the Town of Concord as “a proper place for convening the Members of the said public Seminary of Learning” as the Revolution rages in Cambridge. Students are due in Concord by Oct. 4; probably less than 100 of the expected 125 show up. The College stays in Concord for eight months.
Call it magic, but the rain held off while Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling delivered the keynote address this afternoon (June 5) at Harvard University’s annual meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association.
Multimedia Features
Harvard: Leadership through service
Harvard fosters a culture of community service that embraces those who study, teach and work here. An essential component of today's Harvard education is the call to serve the greater community, both locally and globally.
Slideshow
2:33 run time
June 5, 2008
Slideshow / Jun 4, '09
Slideshow / Nov 4, '08
Service: Cambridge to Capitol Hill
Video / Oct 15, '09
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Doctor of Laws
Video / Dec 1, '08
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