First of all, on behalf of Masters Palfrey and the Foundation, it was wonderful to greet the 250 plus of you who returned to Adams after the game. I am proud to note that our potent 1878 Harvard Punch withstood the onslaught (just!) with the last few drops warming the cockles of the final visitors around 6 PM. Since we began this tradition in 2010 with 40 odd guests, the celebration has grown to be one of the largest, if not the largest, alumni post-game celebrations at Harvard-Yale, and I think it truly represents the warm affinity we feel for a special place called Adams.
Before the glow entirely passes however, I just wanted to share with you a wonderful photo. As part of our FDR Suite collections, we recently acquired a 1900 silk Harvard Football flag. This ingenious invention looks like a brass-tipped wand when not in use. To unfurl, you pull the flag staff out of the tube, reverse, attach the staff to the base, and unwind the flag. Presto! This flag belonged to a contemporary of FDR and was purchased from an estate in Maine; as far as we know this is the first time it has returned to Harvard stadium in 112 years. The old girl is a bit faded, but her silk is still supple in the wind; without a doubt, it was the oldest banner flying that day.
Thanks to Santiago Pardo ’15, (flag bearer) Megan Corrigan ’16 & Lisa Wang ’16 (wavers) and Amna Hashmi ’16 (photo) for helping bring a bit of Harvard history back to life.
(PS: We think this is a product whose day has come again, and we’d like to put these flags back into manufacture. The staff and flag are easily replicated, but the brass-tipped tube (made of some sort of pressed material such as thick cardboard) is unique. If any of you have thoughts on how that might be accomplished, i.e. finding a maker, or, would be interested in underwriting some of the costs, etc. I’d like to hear from you. )
Dr. Lindsay Krasnoff from the State Department Historian’s office will be at Adams House this coming MONDAY, November 24th. 1-2pm, in the Conservatory presenting “Views From the Embassy: The Role of U.S. Diplomats in France, 1914.”
“The story is fascinating and… intertwines a lot of U.S. social history of the era. Many of the men at U.S. Embassy France in 1914 were Harvard graduates” including Teddy Roosevelt’s cousin Nick Roosevelt and classmate Robert Bacon.
Every year our architectural illustrator, the ever talented Jeff Stikeman, creates the most incredible pumpkin creation. Here’s this years: “Kong’s Demise.”
ACHIEVING GLOBAL HEALTH EQUITY IN A GENERATION:
A ROAD MAP WITH LARRY SUMMERS AND JULIO FRENK
Tuesday October 14, 2014 3:45-5:15
Science Center B, Harvard Yard
With the deepening global health crisis in West Africa, it has become ever more apparent, as FDR predicted in 1945, “that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations, far away.” Even more specifically, we have been reminded that the health of America is directly linked to the health of the world. On October 14th, Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Economics Larry Summers and Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, will discuss a way forward, based on a report published last fall in The Lancet: Global Health 2035. In it, Larry Summers and 23 renowned economists and health experts have proposed that if we make the right investments in the health sector today, the globe could achieve universally low rates of infectious, maternal and child deaths by 2035. In other words, we could shift directions to achieve a “grand convergence” in global health within just one generation.
Join us for a fascinating 45-minute discussion as Professors Summer and Frenk explore the practicalities of global health equity, followed by questions from the audience. The discussion will – given circumstance – also feature a short video update on the Ebola situation from Dr. Paul Farmer, who is heading the American medical response in Sierra Leone.
Tickets: $7.50 for undergraduates, $15 for all others to attend the live event. Tickets to the virtual lecture in Science Center C are free, but you must register. Details HERE
Throughout the course of the the Restoration, I’ve been continually surprised and delighted to find little gateways back in time. Here’s another one. Last year, my dear friend Abbot Peterson ’58 died. Recently, his widow – another dear friend – Barbara, was cleaning out some files and came across an old 78. Labelled “Alvin V Laird sings to the class of 1904”, it had been mailed in 1950 to Abbot’s father, Abbot Peterson II, a member of FDR’s class. (As was Mr. Laird.)
The 78 contained two songs: “A Health to King Charles” and “Dolores.” I haven’t been able to gather much information on “Dolores,” but “King Charles” was a very widely sung drinking ditty which would have been immediately recognized by FDR and Lathrop. The song is based on a poem by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) and perfectly embodies the Victorian romantic longing for causes lost:
BRING the bowl which you boast Fill it up to the brim; ’Tis to him we love most, And to all who love him. Brave gallants, stand up,
And avaunt ye, base carles! Were there death in the cup, Here’s a health to King Charles.
Though he wanders through dangers, Unaided, unknown, Dependent on strangers, Estranged from his own; Though ’tis under our breath, Amidst forfeits and perils, Here’s to honor and faith, And a health to King Charles!
Let such honors abound As the time can afford, The knee on the ground, And the hand on the sword; But the time shall come round When, ’mid Lords, Dukes, and Earls, The loud trumpet shall sound, Here’s a health to King Charles!
So here, after tracking down someone who still had the means to play and digitize a 78 (!!!), for the first time in over a century, may I present to you: “Here’s a Health to King Charles”
Click the bar below to listen
This song, by the way, is part of an ongoing process to make a CD of “The Music of FDR’s Harvard” that will contain many of these wonderful old melodies well overdue for a come back. As always, your help in making this and our other work possible is greatly appreciated
This flag belonged to a contemporary of FDR and was purchased from an estate in Maine; as far as we know this is the first time it has returned to Harvard stadium in 112 years. The old girl is a bit faded, but her silk is still supple in the wind; without a doubt, it was the oldest banner flying that day.
