The South Riding RV Travels

351

23rd August 2007 - Harvard Square Cambridge MA

We came to Cambridge to visit friends from the dancing world. Harvard University is in Cambridge so we spent a day at the university. There is a self-guided walking tour which starts here at the Wadsworth House built in 1727 for the eighth president of Harvard and is the second oldest building in the complex. It was used as a headquarters by General George Washington in 1775.
Next comes a series of buildings which contain the freshmen dormitories and face onto a grassy area known as the Old Yard which dates back to the founding of the college in 1636, 16 years after the arrival of the pilgrim colonists at Plymouth. This is probably Hollis Hall which dates from 1763
This is Johnson Gate (1890) which has been the main entrance to the Yard since 1790. It is the first and oldest of nine major and several minor gates.
Another freshman hall is Stoughton Hall dating from 1803. There are dents in the paths and steps outside. Before central heating, the students used to heat cannon balls in the fires to warm their rooms. In spring the students would throw the 'heaters' outside.
Across the way is the new science block which also houses mathematics. The building was designed by José Luis Sert.
We tried to go inside the Memorial Hall but it was in use that day so we only got this shot of the stained glass window through the open door.
This very impressive building was built in 1878 to commemorate the 136 Harvard men who died while fighting for the Union during the Civil War. Their names are listed inside. One wonders about the Confederates....

There are 21 large windows made in the La Farge or Tiffany studios and donated by various classes. The roof is similar in decoration to those we have seen in Beaune in France.

Back to the main complex and we passed by a series of museums and other impressive buildings. This is Burr House.
Moving back towards the centre, this is Loeb House. Built in 1912 for the then president. Today it is occupied by the governors and is often used for official dinners.
The heart of any university is its library. Harvard has several of which this is the most imposing. It is the Widener Library built in 1914 and houses 3.5 million volumes on over 50 miles of shelving. It is named after Harry Elkins Widener who died on the Titanic and whose mother donated the funds to build it.
At the top of the columns is a frieze of which this is a section. It includes the arms of Caxton, the father of printing.
Back to the old Yard where we catch a glimpse of the back of the Weld building.
And so to the famous statue of three lies. The inscription says John Harvard, Founder, 1638. It is NOT John Harvard, the founder, since nobody knows what he looked like. Daniel  French who cast the statue in 1884 used a student as a model. John Harvard was NOT the founder, the institution is merely named after him, and the college was founded in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.