Harvard Produces Guidebook

The Office of News and Public Affairs has packaged the Harvard experience, past and present, and is now selling it at $4.95.

The "Harvard Guide," a storehouse of useful information and odd, interesting facts about Harvard, was distributed to administrative and academic offices across campus on Wednesday.

John F. Kennedy '40, for example, is remembered by a classmate as "attractive, witty and unpurposeful."

Grabbing his suit jacket, Director of Public Affairs at Harvard Alex Huppe demonstrated a useful feature of the project.

"It fits in your inside jacket pocket and even standard size envelopes," Huppe said, referring to the slender volume that has occupied the attentions of his staff for the past five months.

"We've been getting positive feedback from the offices," said John R. Lenger, editor of the Harvard Gazette. "People are really enthusiastic about our project."

The new guide replaces "Facts and Figures," an annual publication that compiled statistics from all over the University and used pie charts as graphic elements.

"People were happy with 'Facts and Figures' in one way," Lenger said. "It was good for information, but not particularly well-designed."

"Since October of last year, we've had the idea that we wanted something that talked about what an amazing place Harvard is," Huppe said.

"We wanted something that tells the story of the complexity of life here and the contributions to culture and society Harvard has made," he said.

Personal profiles of administrators, faculty and alumni fill its pages, as well as little-known facts about Harvard to delight even the most diehard trivia buffs.

For instance, Theodore Roosevelt, Class of 1880, kept a small zoo in his room consisting of lobsters, snakes and a huge tortoise.

The first human kidney transplant was performed at Harvard, and the goldfish swallowing craze of the 1940s was started by a Harvard student, Lothrop Withington Jr. '43.

The target audience for both "Facts and Figures" and "The Harvard Guide" is the community outside of Harvard--tourists, fellows and employees new to Harvard. Full of maps, history and old lore, the Guide is meant to show a more accessible, personal side to Harvard

Personal profiles of administrators, faculty and alumni fill its pages, as well as little-known facts about Harvard to delight even the most diehard trivia buffs.

For instance, Theodore Roosevelt, Class of 1880, kept a small zoo in his room consisting of lobsters, snakes and a huge tortoise.

The first human kidney transplant was performed at Harvard, and the goldfish swallowing craze of the 1940s was started by a Harvard student, Lothrop Withington Jr. '43.

The target audience for both "Facts and Figures" and "The Harvard Guide" is the community outside of Harvard--tourists, fellows and employees new to Harvard. Full of maps, history and old lore, the Guide is meant to show a more accessible, personal side to Harvard