1914 Lived in 'The Golden Age' Of Sports and Clubs and Privacy

President Lowell, welcoming the freshman members of the Class of 1914, urged the students to avoid the prevailing attitude of indifference and uninvolvement. "Two things men suffer most from in college are a swelled head and a contracted heart."

The class took Lowell's words to heart and threw themselves into a number of activities, notably athletics and social organizations. The Class of '14 had one of the best Harvard crews ever, and the team still gets together for races. The football team, beating Yale several years in a row, produced several all-Americans.

The college abounded with social organizations: 18 clubs and six fraternities. To many, Harvard was considered a place to establish connections valuable in later life. In a CRIMSON editorial regretting the social isolation of foreign students and reminding students of their moral obligations to be congenial and helpful to foreigners, the editors concluded that "the business value of a Chinese or South American correspondent whom you have known personally in college may be great."

Undergraduates had firm attachments to the Harvard community. Distinctions such as Harvard versus the outside world, which would seem somewhat ludicrous to undergraduates today, were frequently made. Frequent objections were raised to newspaper reporting of the College's activities and concerns. Though objections were largely directed against the inaccuracy of the reporting there also seemed to be the feeling that newspaper stories, magazine articles and novels written about Harvard were invading the college's sacred right to privacy.

When an undergraduate wrote the Boston Transcript, complaining of the deplorable state of Harvard's dramatic organizations, another undergraduate wrote a letter to the CRIMSON--which was printed at the top of the front page--protesting this "injudicious publicity."

Not Muckrakers

Harvard students took a relatively small part in the muckraking activities of the Progressive movement. There very few active political organizations in the College. Phillips Brooks House made plans for a social service program in 1913 but up until that time it had worked mainly in arranging university teas and providing space for public lectures.

Lincoln Stiffens, a leader of the Progressive movement, became concerned at Harvard's indifference. Characterizing the college as a "community of fixed minds, satisfied and unquestioning," he tried to generate more interest and curiosity among undergraduates, by encouraging a small group of students to institute a lecture series.

The group was successful in bringing such prominent national figures as William Jennings Bryan, James MacKaye, Florence Kelly of the National Consumers' League, and ex-President Theodore Roosevelt (who had himself called the Harvard undergraduates effete).

But most cried for less activity. A senior class report that received much favorable support longed for "a more leisurely college life" and claimed that Harvard undergraduates were "overworked--some with social duties, others with athletics and a few over-much at their books."

Harvard at this time had one of the most star-studded Faculties of its history. Josiah Royce, Herbert Palmer, George Santayana, George Lyman Kittredge, Charles Townsend Copeland and George Baker have made this era known as the Golden Age of the Yard. Nevertheless, most students were satisfied with the "gentleman's C" often acquired through last minute cram courses at private tutoring schools. Faculty members met the problem of a rather disinterested student body in different ways. Kittredge maintained stern discipline during his lectures. If a student left the room when the bell rang and Kittredge was still speaking he would walk out in the hall and bring the student back in. Santayana dispensed with disciplinary measures and selected a small group of undergraduates with whom he worked most of the time.

Lowell's administration worked to strengthen the academic curriculum. A concentration and distribution program was devised requiring students to take six full courses in one field of study. General examinations were given in the field of concentration. Beginning with the Class of 1914, tutorial instruction was offered in several departments.

There was a vast amount of construction in the years 1912-1914. Widener Library ways built and provided a place for the bulk of the university's collection, dispensing with the scattered departmental libraries that had existed previously. Coolidge, Gibbs and Cruft Libraries were built to house the Physics and Chemistry Departments. Gore and Standish halls--now part of Winthrop House--sprung up along the river housing freshmen. The MTA was completed in 1912 and was welcomed by undergrads because it made travel to Boston easier. The Larz Anderson Bridge, completed in 1913, made it much easier to get to football games.

In the half century since their Harvard days members of the Class of 1914 have become extremely active in business and the legal professions. Some of the more prominent members of the class are James B. Conant, President of Harvard and later high commissioner in Germany under the Eisenhower administration; Leverett Saltonstall, former governor of Massachusetts and for the past 19 years--a U.S. senator; and Sinclair Weeks, who served as secretary of commerce under the Eisenhower administration