On the Shelf

College in a Yard is a collection of short articles prepared by thirty-nine Harvard graduates for the Program for Harvard College. These statements of Harvard's contribution to their personal lives exists to remind others of their obligation to Harvard, and consequent financial contribution to the Program.

Brooks Atkinson, who edited these essays, suggested that they be limited to a thousand words apiece, but as he explained in the introduction, "Since every word a Harvard man writes is precious and represents a deliberate alliance with God, I have not dared to eliminate much." The collection is sprinkled with big names: Pusey, Conant, S. N. Behrman, Van Wyck Brroks, Dos Passos, Learned Hand, Mark DeWolfe Howe, Senator John F. Kennedy, and John P. Marquand. Also are two having more recent experience of Harvard College: Michael Dean Butler '56, and Jonathan Kozol '58, who contribute two of the longest pieces. The thirty-nine essays are often too personal to be of much interest, but generally the book is of interest to anyone having attended Harvard.

In keeping with attitudes of mind learned at Harvard, these essays are not emotion-laden "old alma mater" type plaints. They are some times nostalgic, but not for "the night we tore the Yale goalposts down" or for the good-natured camaraderie of their youth. Most represent a serious attempt to tell what they gained from Harvard, although for some, such as Dos Passos, the gain was not overly great: "It took me twenty years to discover that I did learn something at Harvard after all. Cambridge wasn't such a backwater as I'd thought."

As one might expect, Harvard means a variety of things to people, "an island of light" to President Pusey where he first came into contact with the incredible, if slightly pretentious erudition of ... Harvard undergraduates. To Robert Cutler it is the moment when Professor Copeland looked at the coral pig on his watch chain and said, "Is that the emblem of your sublime little club?"

Harvard had many individual meanings, but for most the freedom it offered, "the right to utter" was one of its two major contributions to their lives; the other was the close contact with great teachers. Most of the essays are the relation of experiences with faculty members. This is in marked contrast to the two students recently at Harvard who commented on the grinding competition, the large amount of studying, and the activities. The only mention of faculty contact was that there wasn't nearly enough of it. A Harvard of teachers has become a Harvard of books.

Most of those writing about Harvard approach it with some measure of respect, but the mark of the great of the institution can best be demonstrated by the facetiousness with which some approach Harvard. For if not assured of superiority, one cannot afford to indulge in self-derision.

Even ex-President Conant says not a word about the greatness of Harvard, but concludes his piece on the Tercentenary Celebration by, "Indeed, there are many who declared that the entire day had been an historic occasion. But as I look back upon it, of only one thing I am absolutely sure: it really rained."