Those of us fond of history (and I included myself in this group) often have a tendency to romanticize the past, or at least think that life today presents a certain level of crudity and barbarism lacking in more cultured times. Every now and then however, I am reminded that things weren’t always how I prefer to think they were. In my now daily quest of scanning the Internet for period Harvard memorabilia to decorate the Suite, I came across this piece, dated about 1900:
Intrigued (or perhaps appalled would be a better word) I did a bit of research, and discovered this article in the New York Times from 1903.
Wow. All this in a supposedly dry town! Franklin and Lathrop would have both been present to see the “rough housing” described above.
1903 was a very different world indeed.
That’s really an interesting find, Michael! I’ll bet some of the guys in the class of ’04, like Franklin and Lathrop, actually framed the article from the NY Times for their rooms.
Surely the Harvard Crimson would have had an article about “Bloody Monday” on the front page, wouldn’t it? Maybe Franklin even wrote it. It might be worth checking out the archives of the Crimson.
A lot of people in the class of ’61 still like to remember being in a riot demanding the continuation of Latin on diplomas!