Harvard Tercentenary celebration

In 1936 Harvard University celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding with elaborate festivities, hosting tens of thousands of alumni, dignitaries (including United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt), and representatives of institutions of learning and scholarship from around the world.

Responding to the prospect of being nominated for an honorary degree as part of the celebration, George Bernard Shaw wrote:

Dear Sir, I have to thank you for your proposal to present me as a candidate for an honorary degree of D.L. of Harvard University at its tri-centenary celebration. But I cannot pretend that it would be fair for me to accept university degrees when every public reference of mine to our educational system, and especially to the influence of the universities on it, is fiercely hostile. If Harvard would celebrate its three hundredth anniversary by burning itself to the ground and sowing its site with salt, the ceremony would give me the greatest satisfaction as an example to all the other famous old corrupters of youth, including Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne, etc. Under these circumstances I should let you down very heavily if you undertook to sponsor me.

A handwritten postscript read: "I appreciate the friendliness of your attitude." ^[1]

Sources

• "Cambridge birthday". Time. XXVIII (13): 22–24. September 28, 1936.
• "The Harvard Tercentenary". The Harvard Crimson. 4 November 1932. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
• Elliott, Clark A. (1999). "The Tercentenary of Harvard University in 1936: The Scientific Dimension". Osiris. The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society. 14: Commemorative Practices in Science: Historical Perspectives on the Politics of Collective Memory: 153–75. doi:10.1086/649305. JSTOR 301966.
• Hume, Peter (29 January 1937). "English Student Visiting at Tercentenary Finds Harvard's Seven Houses Similar to Those at Cambridge University". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
• "AT HARVARD". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• MacDonald, James (14 September 1936). "Students to Participate in Harvard Rites As Hosts to Delegates at Tercentenary". New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "FROST TO READ A POEM; Harvard Phi Beta Kappa Also to Hear Him at Tercentenary". The New York Times. 5 June 1936. p. 19. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "HARVARD TO GIVE PLAY OF OLD ROME; Classical Club Members Will Wear Robes and Masks as Was Done in 200 B.C. SETS IN ANCIENT DESIGN Mural, Found at Pompeii, Guides the Scenes for 'Mostellaria,' Farce by Plautus". The New York Times. 30 March 1936. p. 21. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "HARVARD'S TERCENTENARY". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Harvard Unveils Replica Of Famous Wooden Pump". The New York Times. 17 June 1936. p. 27. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Harvard Honors Reporters For Tercentenary Stories". The New York Times. 22 December 1936. p. 25. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "HARVARD TO HONOR WORLD SCHOLARS; Will Confer Degrees on 66 at Climax of the Celebration of Its 300th Anniversary. 12 NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS Eighteen Countries Will Be Represented in the Awards to Notable Figures". The New York Times. 27 May 1936. p. 18. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "33-Inch Harvard Seats For 16,000 on Friday". The New York Times. 15 September 1936. p. 16. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Lace-Trimmed 'Togas' Worn at Harvard in 1836". The New York Times. 28 June 1936. p. N2. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "HARVARD MEN ASK PAMPHLET INQUIRY; Sacco Article Sponsors Act on Report University Had Copies Destroyed. APPEAL TO POSTOFFICE Alumni Committee Seeks to Know Whether Such 'Suppression' Is Punishable Under Law". The New York Times. 1 October 1936. p. 52. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Proposes Harvard Give $300,000 to Cambridge". The New York Times. 20 February 1936. p. 21. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Non-Harvard Group Makes $5,000 Gift As Tribute to University's Achievements". The New York Times. 18 September 1936. p. 24. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "FINDS WORK IS SPED BY CONDITIONED AIR; Dr. Drinker of Harvard Tells Health Meeting Colds May Be Cut in Future". The New York Times. 29 August 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "ASSAIL DR. LOWELL ON SACCO DECISION; Pamphlet Signed by 28 Harvard Alumni Criticizes His Judgment in the Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "HARVARD'S BIRTHDAY MARKED BY FIREWORKS; Undergraduates Also Hold a Torchlight Parade, the Greatest Since '86". The New York Times. 18 September 1936. p. 16. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "ABELARD AND AMERICA". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "WORLD SCHOLARS TO HONOR HARVARD; 72 Leaders in Science and Arts Will Address Tercentenary Fete, Opening Tomorrow. 2,500 OTHERS TO ATTEND Nobel Prize Winners Are Among Those Dealing With High Themes in 3-Week Session. CLOSING DAYS THE CLIMAX Roosevelt Will Speak at Final Exercises in Tribute to the University's Founding. WORLD SCHOLARS TO HONOR HARVARD". The New York Times. 30 August 1936. p. N1. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Harvard Rise by Centuries". The New York Times. 30 August 1936. p. N8. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Crowds at Tercentenary Show". The New York Times. 16 August 1936. p. N3. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Harvard Starts Building Theatre". The New York Times. 7 August 1936. p. 16. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Harvard Rebuffs Cambridge $300,000 Plea, Reminding City of Benefits for 300 Years". The New York Times. 22 March 1936. p. 41. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "HARVARD OUTLINES SCOPE OF SYMPOSIA; First, on Social Sciences, Will Seek 'Truer Picture of Past' Through Life Elements. ON 'BORROWING' THOUGHT Influence of One People on Another in Institutions and Art Is Center of the Study". The New York Times. 2 September 1936. p. 16. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "HARVARD ON VIEW TO TOURISTS; Many Thousands Accept Its First Invitation to the General Public to Visit Its Premises". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
• "Harvard University. Corporation. Records of the Harvard University Tercentenary Celebration, 1936 : an inventory".
• "Harvard University. Tercentenary Celebration Office. Records of the Tercentenary Celebration Office : an inventory".
• Bethell, John T. (1998). Harvard Observed: An Illustrated History of the University in the Twentieth Century. Harvard University Press.
• The Tercentenary of Harvard College: A Chronicle of the Tercentenary Year 1935-1936. Harvard University Press. 1937.
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. (18 September 1936). Address (Speech). Harvard University Tercentenary Celebration. Cambridge. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
• "DEGREES CONFERRED AT THE HARVARD TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION". Science. 84 (2178): 285–86. 25 September 1936. doi:10.1126/science.84.2178.285-a.
• "Opening Ceremonies of Tercentenary Celebration Will Begin in November". The Harvard Crimson. 1 September 1935. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
• "Harvard's way of soaking the rich" Harvard Alumni Bulletin; v70n17 jul 1968 p64
• David McCord Notes on the Harvard Tercentenary