In the Yard, the Trees Are Talking
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Students make their way across a sunny Tercentenary Theater Wednesday afternoon on the first day of shopping period.
The Lorax can speak for the trees. Well, at Harvard, the trees can now speak for themselves. And it turns out they sound like Winston Churchill, Bill Gates, Mother Teresa, and J. K. Rowling.
In anticipation of the 375th anniversary celebration coming up next week, the University has installed speakers high in the branches of several trees in the Old Yard. The devices play speeches from Harvard Voices, a compilation that was created for the last big anniversary, Harvard's 350th in 1986.
The University Marshall's office recently updated the collection of famous speeches delivered right here at Harvard with new speeches from the past 25 years.
The speakers are intended to "remind people that this is the site of some very historical things," Tania M. deLuzuriaga, a Harvard spokesperson, said.
If you want to listen to the full collection without passersby seeing you staring awestruck at a tree, search "Harvard Voices" on iTunes and download the recordings for free.
The speakers will remain in the trees until the anniversary celebration on Oct. 14.
"The hope is that people will pause for a moment and linger and think about what's being said," deLuzuriaga said. "A lot of what happens at Harvard resonates beyond Harvard. It's nice to think about those things once in a while."