The Crimson Bookshelf

WHEN Harvard planned its 1935-36 Tercentenary Year, nothing was forgotten. Not least of the provisions not forgotten was one that saw that the Tercentenary itself should not be forgotten. In 492 magnificent pages Jerome D. Greene '96, Secretary to the Corporation and Director of the Tercentenary, has unrolled the complete panorama of the three hundredth year of Harvard that, when it was over, those who saw might the more easily refresh themselves, and that those who did not see, and that posterity might know about it.

Since 1924, when Samuel Eliot Morison '08, professor of History, was appointed Tercentenary Historian, Harvard had been making preparations for its celebration, and undergraduates and others were from time to time fanned with news of the progress. Now the Tercentenary Days are a year old. The Class of 1941 is the first which was not at Cambridge then; it is the first absolutely foreign to it. It is the first of many Classes which will gain most from reading Mr. Greene's book.

Others of us who were here will also profit. Though the news releases were frequent and to the point, there was so much that a great many students had no more than the vaguest idea of what it was all about. Now, if they never knew before, they may now. Mr. Greene's book is 100% complete and clear. All the events are recorded. During the actual three days all the more important speeches are reproduced. Contained are lists of delegates, accounts of exhibits, messages, personnel.

The author's style is terse, to the point, easy to read. There are no wasted words. This is a dignified chronicle of a dignified event. Even the Harvard-phobia who starts at the first page will not lay down the book until the end is reached. A sense of the magnitude of what is being recorded grasps the reader comparable to that which grasped the watchers last year. Mr. Greene makes those days live again.