Category: Social Life at Harvard

How’s this for an elliptical tale: I was sitting last evening in FDR Suite, attending a small get-together hosted by Claire Mays, ‘81, who’s our first guest since the Suite was sufficiently completed to lose its air of camping. There were nine of us, and we were sitting around in an odd allotment of chairs [...]

Who said you couldn’t put Humpty-Dumpty back together again? Several day’s worth  of hard work later, the Suite has emerged with its new coat of paper, remarkably transformed, looking for the first time in over a century very nearly like a Victorian room:

What’s next? Window treatments, and – hopefully – more generous contributions from [...]

Dearest Mama,
I have jumped into a den of wild animals on my return, beginning with a dinner at the Club last Saturday, two private performances of the Pudding show & a crowd of 1903 men here for Herbert Burgess’ ushers’ dinner… FDR to Sara, May 3rd, 1904:
Just so that you don’t think we’re concentrating on [...]

One of the things that amazes me most about this project is that every now and then, a piece of the puzzle drops mysteriously from the sky, as if by preordained writ. I noted in a previous post how a strange and unlikely attraction to a tiny spot in Big Sur led me to Lathrop [...]

I was sitting in the Suite a few weeks ago, looking around, and I must admit to being quite impressed. With furniture mostly in place, pictures on the walls, mementos scattered everywhere, the place is really starting to become a real Victorian room with personality. This last is truly the key, because our quest is [...]

Hello All!
Again I must offer apologies for being off-line for so long: the season dictates that the day job (landscape design) be all-engaging, and so this notice will be brief. But much good news: The FDR Suite was again in the New York Times; the manufacturing problems of the study wall paper have finally been [...]

We have a new arrival in the Suite this week. A wonderful burgundy and gold late 19th-century daybed that looks as if it were made and upholstered for the room. As beautiful as it is though, it almost didn’t make the cut: I had initially passed on the purchase two months ago. We did, after [...]

My apologies for not posting any news for the last several weeks, but these have been busy, heady days. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we’ve been able to begin the process of furnishing the Suite, slowing rolling back the years to May, 1904.
I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the [...]

Those of us fond of history (and I included myself in this group) often have a tendency to romanticize the past, or at least think that life today presents a certain level of crudity and barbarism lacking in more cultured times. Every now and then however, I am reminded that things weren’t always how I [...]

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The battle begins: two hours, and 250 chairs and 27 tables to move and assemble, labor provided through the good offices of the FDR Institute’s Matthew Young and his hale and hardy band of volunteers.

Brooms at the ready

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Getting there. The spectacular floral creations of Teresa Kiritsy’s Creative Themes arrive

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Just in time, the show begins: a [...]