Graduate Center Dedication Ends Decades Of Planning

Simple dedication ceremonies this afternoon will formally open the Graduate Center on Jarvis Field and bring to a conclusion the year campaign to provide Cambridge graduate students with adequate housing of their own.

The center includes eight new halls -- seven dormitories and the Harkness Commons building--and other old dormitories, Walter Hastings, Perkins, Conant, and Divinity.

With the opening of the center, a new era begins for the graduate schools in Cambridge. For the first time these schools have a community of their own -- with great deal of dormitory space and a social center.

But to the University, it is more than that. At the Graduate Cdenter, specialists from six schools are "intermingling and learning from each other." In that respect the graduate facilities in Cambridge surpass the Medical and Business School plants in Boston, which are more elaborate but somewhat isolated.

"Dream Come True"

The officials of the Law School and the other graduate schools in Cambridge are unrestrainedly enthusiastic. To all of them, the Graduate Center seems like a "dream come true." It is the climax of many years of hoping and hard work.

Interest in a large-scale graduate dormitory program has existed for decades, but with the start of the undergraduate House system in 1930 the time appeared not too distant when new dormitory facilities would be added to Walter Hastings, Conant, Divinity, and Perkins Halls -- all of which were built before 1900.

Two men, Dean Griswold of the Law School and Provost Buck representing the five other Cambridge graduate schools, are mainly responsible for converting this idea into a reality. They joined forces and persuaded the Corporation not only to endorse the idea but also to contribute the land for the project and $1,000,000 of University money, which in the end represented about one third of the project's building costs.

"Community of Scholars"

The idea to turn the University's "community of graduate scholars" into a physical reality -- to get large numbers of graduate students living and eating together on University property -- never gained much support while large numbers of undergraduates were living in rooming houses instead of Harvard dormitories.

As far as physical facilities are concerned, the College has always tended to have a more complete plant than the graduate schools.

The Law School, which of all the Cambridge graduate schools could get the most support from its alumni for building new dormitories, had other interests in the 1920's. The major physical accomplishment of Dean Pound's administration was the completion of the last section of Langdell Hall in 1929.

Once the seven undergraduate Houses were completed in the early 1930's, officials praised them for putting into practice President Lowell's principle of "breakfast table education." At Harvard, the officials reasoned, students learn not only from their classes but also from informal discussions with friends and professors.

Little Progress Made

In his first address as president, Conant spoke of the need for a graduate social center. Little progress was made during the thirties as the University concentrated on such projects as National Scholarships, University Professorships, and the various adult fellowship programs, like the Nieman Fellows fund.

In 1942 Buck's attention was focused on the problem. Interest began to grown in a Graduate Center as possible post-war project.

In 1946, the University had the temporary Vanserg Building, built during the war near the Divinity School, waiting to be used for something.

No Dining Hall

Before the war not only did the Cambridge graduate students have inadequate dormitory space, but also there was no University dining hall where they could regularly eat.

Dean Landis, then head of the Law School, and Buck agreed to turn Vanserg into a graduate dining hall. The administration agreed that this was only a temporary measure, for Vanserg is an unattractive building which was interior to the other dining halls in the University.

When Griswold was made dean of the Law School, he began pushing the idea of new graduate dormitories strongly. Buck and he realized that the best way -- and perhaps the only way -- to get real Corporation support for new dormitories and commons would be to make the program a joint one between the Law School and the other graduate schools.

To the surprise of many, the project won rapid support from both Conant and the Fellows of the Corporation. Before the Graduate Center idea was announced in October of 1948, the University had to decide what type of buildings they wanted.

High Building Costs

Even though the post-war building boom was not far from its peak, no one wished to delay construction. The feeling was that this project had been long enough delayed; the process of changing the atmosphere at the g r a d u a t e schools would take some time, so that the sooner they were started the better.

Modern architecture was about the only type that could be used in the center; if Georgian Colonial were used -- as in the Houses built in the depression -- the cost would have been enormous.

Actually the Graduate Center received initial Corporation approval before Gropius preliminary sketches were authorized.

Once the plans had been approved, the long-delayed program went ahead with virtually no stoppages. Sample rooms were constructed by the architects for the students to look at and offer improvements for A number of minor points were changed, but the only criticism students offered was that economy had made the rooms too small.

The Graduate Center as planned would have dormitory space for about 1,000 men. Since three of the four existing halls were meant for non-Law men and since Law alumni would contribute more money for the new buildings, the Corporation decided to build five of the new dormitories for the Law School and only two for the other graduate schools.

Today the 1,000 men living in the Graduate Center are about equally divided between Law men and students from the other Cambridge graduate schools.

New Significance

The opening of the center lends new significance to the University's graduate schools. To a great many persons, regardless of where they went to college, a Harvard graduate degree was something useful to have. But these, men felt few ties with Harvard, nor had they received all the benefits of a Harvard education.

The Harvard graduate schools will continue to educate leading lawyers, college professors, and civil servants of the future. To these men the University will have a new importance. No longer will they recall Harvard as the place where they lived in a dingy rooming house and ate in drug stores, while studying under some of the world's leading scholars and teachers.

The center includes eight new halls -- seven dormitories and the Harkness Commons building--and other old dormitories, Walter Hastings, Perkins, Conant, and Divinity.

With the opening of the center, a new era begins for the graduate schools in Cambridge. For the first time these schools have a community of their own -- with great deal of dormitory space and a social center.

But to the University, it is more than that. At the Graduate Cdenter, specialists from six schools are "intermingling and learning from each other." In that respect the graduate facilities in Cambridge surpass the Medical and Business School plants in Boston, which are more elaborate but somewhat isolated.

"Dream Come True"

The officials of the Law School and the other graduate schools in Cambridge are unrestrainedly enthusiastic. To all of them, the Graduate Center seems like a "dream come true." It is the climax of many years of hoping and hard work.

Interest in a large-scale graduate dormitory program has existed for decades, but with the start of the undergraduate House system in 1930 the time appeared not too distant when new dormitory facilities would be added to Walter Hastings, Conant, Divinity, and Perkins Halls -- all of which were built before 1900.

Two men, Dean Griswold of the Law School and Provost Buck representing the five other Cambridge graduate schools, are mainly responsible for converting this idea into a reality. They joined forces and persuaded the Corporation not only to endorse the idea but also to contribute the land for the project and $1,000,000 of University money, which in the end represented about one third of the project's building costs.

"Community of Scholars"

The idea to turn the University's "community of graduate scholars" into a physical reality -- to get large numbers of graduate students living and eating together on University property -- never gained much support while large numbers of undergraduates were living in rooming houses instead of Harvard dormitories.

As far as physical facilities are concerned, the College has always tended to have a more complete plant than the graduate schools.

The Law School, which of all the Cambridge graduate schools could get the most support from its alumni for building new dormitories, had other interests in the 1920's. The major physical accomplishment of Dean Pound's administration was the completion of the last section of Langdell Hall in 1929.

Once the seven undergraduate Houses were completed in the early 1930's, officials praised them for putting into practice President Lowell's principle of "breakfast table education." At Harvard, the officials reasoned, students learn not only from their classes but also from informal discussions with friends and professors.

Little Progress Made

In his first address as president, Conant spoke of the need for a graduate social center. Little progress was made during the thirties as the University concentrated on such projects as National Scholarships, University Professorships, and the various adult fellowship programs, like the Nieman Fellows fund.

In 1942 Buck's attention was focused on the problem. Interest began to grown in a Graduate Center as possible post-war project.

In 1946, the University had the temporary Vanserg Building, built during the war near the Divinity School, waiting to be used for something.

No Dining Hall

Before the war not only did the Cambridge graduate students have inadequate dormitory space, but also there was no University dining hall where they could regularly eat.

Dean Landis, then head of the Law School, and Buck agreed to turn Vanserg into a graduate dining hall. The administration agreed that this was only a temporary measure, for Vanserg is an unattractive building which was interior to the other dining halls in the University.

When Griswold was made dean of the Law School, he began pushing the idea of new graduate dormitories strongly. Buck and he realized that the best way -- and perhaps the only way -- to get real Corporation support for new dormitories and commons would be to make the program a joint one between the Law School and the other graduate schools.

To the surprise of many, the project won rapid support from both Conant and the Fellows of the Corporation. Before the Graduate Center idea was announced in October of 1948, the University had to decide what type of buildings they wanted.

High Building Costs

Even though the post-war building boom was not far from its peak, no one wished to delay construction. The feeling was that this project had been long enough delayed; the process of changing the atmosphere at the g r a d u a t e schools would take some time, so that the sooner they were started the better.

Modern architecture was about the only type that could be used in the center; if Georgian Colonial were used -- as in the Houses built in the depression -- the cost would have been enormous.

Actually the Graduate Center received initial Corporation approval before Gropius preliminary sketches were authorized.

Once the plans had been approved, the long-delayed program went ahead with virtually no stoppages. Sample rooms were constructed by the architects for the students to look at and offer improvements for A number of minor points were changed, but the only criticism students offered was that economy had made the rooms too small.

The Graduate Center as planned would have dormitory space for about 1,000 men. Since three of the four existing halls were meant for non-Law men and since Law alumni would contribute more money for the new buildings, the Corporation decided to build five of the new dormitories for the Law School and only two for the other graduate schools.

Today the 1,000 men living in the Graduate Center are about equally divided between Law men and students from the other Cambridge graduate schools.

New Significance

The opening of the center lends new significance to the University's graduate schools. To a great many persons, regardless of where they went to college, a Harvard graduate degree was something useful to have. But these, men felt few ties with Harvard, nor had they received all the benefits of a Harvard education.

The Harvard graduate schools will continue to educate leading lawyers, college professors, and civil servants of the future. To these men the University will have a new importance. No longer will they recall Harvard as the place where they lived in a dingy rooming house and ate in drug stores, while studying under some of the world's leading scholars and teachers.