Campus & Community

This month in Harvard history

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December 1899 — B. L. Platt’s bronze bust of Phillips Brooks is placed in the hallway of Phillips Brooks House (dedicated on Jan. 23, 1900).

Fall 1899 — Alumni consider donating funds for a memorial fence around Harvard Yard, with the first section to run between the Johnston (1890) and Meyer (1891; opposite today’s Science Center) gates.

Dec. 27, 1899 — An early-morning fire destroys the first Newell Boathouse, which was slated for formal opening in January. The current Newell replaces it in 1901.

December 1900 — Basketball becomes an officially recognized Harvard sport.

Dec. 17, 1900 — At the invitation of Francis Greenwood Peabody, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Tuskegee Institute Principal Booker T. Washington discusses Negro education before a Sanders Theatre audience.

Dec. 17, 1920 — In Lawrence Hall (lost to fire in 1970 on a site now occupied by the Science Center), the Graduate School of Education begins a six-part series of lectures, demonstrations, and practical exercises for those who teach and otherwise work with the blind and semi-sighted.

Dec. 6, 1921 — A reception at the Fogg Museum honors visiting French composer Vincent d’Indy. The Harvard Glee Club sings under the direction of Music Associate Professor Archibald T. Davison, the University Organist and Choirmaster.

From the Harvard Historical Calendar, a database compiled by Marvin Hightower