This month in Harvard history

Nov. 4, 1953 – Led by an escort of 27 Boston and Cambridge police motorcycles, Greece’s King Paul I and Queen Frederika arrive at Harvard. The royal couple meet President Nathan Marsh Pusey and other officials, sign the University guest book, tour the Fogg Museum, and head off for the rest of a one-day trip to Boston.

Nov. 30, 1954 – Houghton and Widener libraries open an exhibition honoring poet Robert Frost, who attends a reception for about 150 guests. Twenty-six exhibition cases show numerous first publications of his work in books, magazines, and pamphlets, along with books about and dedicated to Frost, and souvenirs of his Harvard ties. It is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Frost’s published work assembled to date.

Among the highlights is the first public showing of a four-page, handwritten letter (Sept. 11, 1897; Lawrence, Mass.) from Frost to College Dean Le Baron Russell Briggs, explaining his educational situation and requesting admission.

Nov. 7, 1955 – A Lowell House dinner celebrates the first 25 years of the Harvard undergraduate House system. Among the guests are members of the Harvard Corporation (including President Nathan Marsh Pusey) and the Board of Overseers. Officiating is Lowell Master Elliott Perkins ’23, who has been with the House since it opened (starting as a tutor).

The festivities bring the announcement of the first scholarship ever established at Harvard for the use of an individual House, made possible by a gift from House members of 1950 to 1952. The scholarship honors four Lowell House members of the Class of 1951 (Wilbur Lee Van Bremen, Franklin P. Dunbaugh, Thomas A. Hubbard, and Sherrod E. Skinner) who were killed in Korea.

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