Walking and Gawking

They're not Harvard students. And they don't look like them.

Each hour, after students scurry across the Yard and disappear into classes, the air falls quiet except for the sound of a lone voice. A group of people gathered in front of Massachusetts Hall hear that "it is the oldest building on campus, built in 1720, and it has always been a student dorm, but now it also houses the President of the University's office ..."

The people are tourists, and they stop at Harvard University for the same reason they visit any other tourist attraction in the Boston area. One Texan says, quite simply, that "it is the thing to do."

The guide to Harvard Hall and explains that it used to house almost all student activities until it burned down. "The fire destroyed all of John Harvard's library, or at least that's what people thought. But then one student who had taken out a book for the night, which was forbidden, realizing the value of the book, returned the book to the President, who thanked the student and then promptly expelled him."

These tours operate out of the Holoyoke Center Information Center, whose manager, Barbra Drake, says they originated with an idea of former President James B. Conant '12. Conant "felt that because of the image of the University throughout the United States as an austere place, the President wanted to make some place where people could feel welcome," she explains.

Drake says the tours have changed little since Conant's tenure (1936-52) except for the occasional addition of new landmarks. "There is great interest in that fountain," she says of the recently-installed rock fountain outside the Science Center.

Most tourists visit Harvard between May and October, and the peak season occurs in the middle of August, when up to 1000 people tour Harvard in a week. By contrast, the U.S.S. Constitution, one of Boston's top attractions, welcomes around 5000 tourists a day during their peak season, which occurs at the same time as Harvard's.

"The tours are a lot more anecdotal, a lot more historical" than admissions tours, explains Carey M. York '85, co-president of the Crimson Key Society the group which provides student tour guides. The society also publishes a book, updated every five years, of Harvard lore and trivia, which guides sprinkle into their talks, York says.

Guides often tell the story of how Daniel Chester French, the same person who created the Lincoln Memorial, actually used a student model when sculpting the statue of John Harvard 100 years ago. No pictures of the University's benefactor have survived.

Memorial plaques are also featured. Guides point out famous names engraved in the stone of Memorial Church, such as Lionel Dejersey Harvard '15, the only John Harvard descendant to attend the College.

Guides also identify sdorms which housed famous people. For example, John F. Kennedy '40 lived in Weld, and Ralph Waldo Emerson lived in Hollis.

Tourists learn that the cracks in the outside steps of Hollis Hall supposedly were created by students who dropped cannonballs from their windows after the winter. The students kept them in fireplaces over the winter to radiate heat, tour guide James A. Sanks '86 explains.

Another story tourists hear is that no structural changes, even removing a brick, man be made on Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, because of a stipulation in the donation. But they do not hear the time-honored--but untrue--story that Widener's mother, who donated the building, insisted that all students take a swim test before graduation because her so drowned aboard the Titanic. Sanks contend that the swim test was introduced with the building of the river Houses.

Besides the anecdote, tourists are extremely interested in the various movies filmed in Harvard Yard, Sanks says. The Bostontans, filmed at Harvard two summers ago, is the most recent example. Sanks says that once while telling a group of tourists about the filming, he added that he had been an extra in the cast. This compelled a Japanese visitor to ask for his autograph.

As a result of the film. "During summer tours actors were pumping on the pump in Harvard Yard," which Sanks said piqued tourist interest. He added that the pump outside Hollis Hall, is a replica of a real pump which students blew up, as a practical joke, sometime in the 1920s or 30s.

Sanks says that he also points out Emerson Hall, which was called Barrett Hall in the film Love Story

Along with the historical trivia, guides also talk about student life and the architecture and art at Harvard.

For instance the stained glass windows in Memorial Hall, relates one guide, were designed by Sarah Witman and tinted by Tiffany's in New York.

The large statue of a dragon between Widener's Library and Boylston Hall was carved during the reign of the emperor Chia Ch'ing, who ruled China from 1796-1821. It was donated in 1936 by the Harvard Alumni of China, York says.

Sever Hall, designed by H. H. Richardson, was voted one of the 10 best works of architecture in 1885, Sanks says. He added that the varied architecture in the Yard sometimes will play a large part in the tour.

"Most tourists are Americans, typical American tourists of middle aged couples," Sanks says. He added that most foreign tourists seem to come from Australia.

"We suggest they go to other typical tourist places in Boston, such as JFK library, the freedom trail and Quincy Market," he adds.

"We came to Boston, so we thought we would come over and have a tour," says Marguerite Smith of Greeley, Col.Mrs.Seth Fisher of Villanova, Pa., agrees that Harvard is an obligatory part of a tour of Boston. Her companion, Diane Myers of Medford, N. J., adds that "Harvard is very historical."

Harvard's reputation seems to hold up well with the visitors. When asked what she has heard about Harvard at home. Denver resident Patty McCord responded, "What a fine school it is." One tourist from San Francisco who took a tour of both Harvard and MIT says she definitely thought Harvard was nicer.

Another California resident says, "People talk about it and seem to think it's a good place for their children to get into, so I guess it's a good place." Added a Texan, who asked to not be identified. "I hear they bust your built with work." He says he thinks this is a good thing.