Long Before EdX, Televised Harvard Classes Were Cutting-Edge

Every week, The Crimson publishes a selection of articles that were printed in our pages in years past.

July 14, 1932: Bastille Day Honored Here

Resuming its activities for the summer, the Harvard Unit of France Forever will open its celebration of Bastille Day, July 14, with a talk by Kirtley F. Mather, director of the Summer School, and movies on the invasion of France, and Free French armies in action at the Institute of Geographical Exploration today at 3 o'clock.

July 12, 1956: Two Professors TV Lecturers in Fall of '56

Harvard University in cooperation with the Ford Foundation has created the position of Lowell Television Lecturer to be held each year by two distinguished college professors. The lectureship has been created on a trial basis for the first three years, with the University committed to appoint lecturers until 1958-59.

President Pusey said that the new positions recognize the University's continuing interest in education through television and also "record for television a college course of instruction selected for both its intellectual content and the excellence of its manner of presentation."

July 9, 1963: Feds Convict 'Cliffe Senior on Gun Rap

A Radcliffe senior who is handy with a chopper was convicted of conspiring to violate the laws of the United States yesterday in what a federal judge called "the most fantastic case of amateur gun-running I've ever seen."

July 13, 1973: Union Evaluates Pudding in Survey; Rice-Raisin Mixture Shows Poorly

A poll conducted by the University Food Service to register the reaction of students to a rice and raisin pudding, was completed yesterday in the Union.

The pudding is being tested by the Freshman Union for General Mills, Inc., the cereal firm which supplied the samples. Through this poll, General Mills hopes to predict public response to its product if and when it becomes available on the open market.

July 13, 1976: Pickets 'Note' That Theater in Square Has No Union

Twelve demonstrators from the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, Motion Picture Machine Operators picketed the Harvard Square Theater for 30 minutes Friday night, carrying signs reading, "This theater does not employ union operators."

Nat Stillman, assistant steward of the unions local 182, said this weekend the theater was chosen as the target of picketing because it was unionized until Anthony Mauriello, who also runs Cinema 733 in Boston, assumed management of the theater in May.

July 11, 1980: On Shaky Ground

In China, they say, scientists are learning to predict earthquakes by studying barnyard animals. When the pigs snort and hens cackle nervously, researchers know the tectonic plates will soon commence to bump and grind and the earth to heave.

In Cambridge, the hens have been squawking for 20 years. "All together too powerful," they clucked. "Something must be done." And last weekend the predictable happened. Tremors of the sort that have tossed other American institutions since the mid-sixties finally reached sheltered Harvard.

Gov. Edward J. King Saturday signed into law a bill repealing the University's exemption from city zoning. The bill, which carries enormous practical significance, also offers symbolic proof of Harvard's increasing impotence in its dealings with its neighbors.

—Compiled by Nikita Kansra and Julie M. Zauzmer