Exhibit

The Rittase Touch

Photographic Views of Harvard in the 1930s
A person walks down the sidewalk alongside Memorial Drive. Several towers on the Harvard upperclass houses appear in the background. The Charles River runs along the left.
Memorial Drive, Charles River, House Towers
Credit: Harvard University Archives
A man ascends the stairs of Widener Library.
Widener Library - Promotional Postcard
Credit: Harvard University Archives
Three young men exit through a gate, toward several buildings. Elm trees throw dark shadows on the grounds around them.

Credit: Harvard University Archives
A person walks down the sidewalk alongside Memorial Drive. Several towers on the Harvard upperclass houses appear in the background. The Charles River runs along the left. A man ascends the stairs of Widener Library. Three young men exit through a gate, toward several buildings. Elm trees throw dark shadows on the grounds around them.

Aug 23, 2019 through May 6, 2020

Open to the public

Location

Lammot du Pont Copeland Gallery, Pusey Library
Harvard University Archives
Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA 02138
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In the fall of 1932, Harvard invited William Rittase (1894-1968), a Philadelphia-based photographer, to Cambridge to capture views of Harvard Yard, its buildings, and the greater campus beyond its gates. Ultimately, he produced a series of 87 photographs, now held at the Harvard University Archives, that visually document Harvard in a period of unprecedented growth and change.

On exhibit are 11 original gelatin silver prints of Rittase's 1932 Harvard photographs as well as several reproductions, all placed in their historical, technological, and artistic context. Come see how Harvard was changing in the early '30s, and investigate how it has changed since.