OK, maybe not ten thousand (as in the school’s fight song), but here are a few. The handsome gent above and below is Aga Khan (no date for photo; Khan graduated in ’59), whose step-mother was Rita Hayworth:
Students and professor, 1952:
Book fair, 1957:
Commencement, 1961:
Alumni Day, 1968:
This one is captioned “Harvard students examining directory at Wellesley to determine which girl to ask out,” 1951:
Students leaving for vacation in Bermuda, 1957:
Evenings in Bermuda are spent like this:
Obligatory rowing picture, 1941:
The Harvard Club in New York, 1940:
Photos via LIFE Magazine.
This post originally ran on January 11, 2009.
As always, an amazing group of photos! Especially “Students and professor”, “Alumni Day”, and “Students leaving for vacation in Bermuda”. They really capture a bygone era.
Thanks, and I share your favorites. I especially like the pipesmoking prof as well, and Alumni Day is a great shot.
In the second shot, Khan looks like surf legend Laird Hamilton.
I love shots like these. I live right near Harvard, and I worked in Harvard Square for a long time. The buildings look exactly the same. The people, needless to say do not.
I wish I could pull off the shorts/blazer/tie thing so well. As bad-ass as I think it is, I’m too scared (and possibly too old) to try it.
I think these are nice looking pics. But if I might provide some feedback — I’d much rather see photos of contemporaries in Ivy dress. I know how people dressed in (pick the date — 1955, 1965, 1975). I don’t get inspiration or ideas from that. Just a personal opinion.
I do wish one could still wear a boater at places other than races and political conventions without looking like a lost extra from a Merchant Ivory film. Always thought that was a nice hat.
The college men looked so much more mature and classy then. Incidentally, I believe boaters are still worn at Penn Day at the U. of Penn.
Interesting to see the Aga Khan as a young man. From these pictures you would never know that he’s an Imam and leader of the Nazari Sect. Fascinating.
we have to bring these back
in case you all were interested:
http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/traditions/heyday/straw_hat.html
Commencement Day 1961 is especially beautiful, and poignant. Viet Nam is about to sweep all of this away. In ten years, it will all be so very, very different. And not for the better, either.
Aga Khan is wearing his Rosean jacket in the first picture. Probably not at Harvard when it was taken.
To quote one of my favorite movies “It was a time that is now gone, gone with the wind.”