We are inviting you to a fascinating lecture about the Gates of Harvard Yard with Pulitzer Prize awardee Blair Kamin.
Harvard was founded in 1636, but its signature gates were mostly constructed in the past 125 years. This new edition of Gates of Harvard Yard (Harvard University Press) features beautifully illustrated essays and includes a new afterword by the book’s editor, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Blair Kamin, as well as a fresh chapter on Harvard Yard’s latest gate, built in 2020 and inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Tale of Peter Rabbit. In this slide lecture, Kamin will discuss the design, stories and secrets of the Harvard Yard gates, most of which were shaped by renowned architects McKim, Mead & White; the influence of the Harvard gates on campuses throughout the nation; and how iconic gates and gate-related complexes, from Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to Washington, D.C.’s Watergate, have become symbols of something much larger than themselves.
Former Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for criticism and numerous other awards, including the Order of Lincoln, Illinois’ highest civilian honor. Born in Red Bank, N.J., he is a graduate of Amherst College and the Yale School of Architecture. During a Nieman journalism fellowship at Harvard during the 2012-13 academic year, Kamin became fascinated by the 25 gates that enclose Harvard Yard and co-taught a class about them during Harvard’s January term. The eight-day class led to a thirteen-year journey that has culminated in a new clothbound edition of the widely-praised Gates of Harvard Yard. Previously issued in paperback, the book reveals the beauty, history, lore and legacy of Harvard’s often-overlooked entries.
We will be serving non-alcoholic drinks and refreshments.
