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Family History
Review of Martin Puchner’s “The Language of Thieves”In decoding a captivating language, a scholar is unsettled by an ancestor’s secret.Marina N. BolotnikovaNovember-December 2020...
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An Auspicious View
An Edo-era dazzler from Harvard Art Museums exhibitThis folding fan enfolds two sacred mountains.Lydialyle GibsonNovember-December 2020 Edo_era_fansThe effect takes a moment to sink in: a double-sided...
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A Man and His Castle
Hammond Castle MuseumThe eclectic legacy of inventor John Hays Hammond Jr.Nell Porter BrownNovember-December 2020 Hammond_CastleHammond Castle Museum is a romantic pastiche of medieval and Renaissance...
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See Their Faces
See Their FacesMarina N. Bolotnikova See Their FacesThe pictures are spectral, disorienting portals into the slave South. The 15 daguerreotypes of South Carolina slaves, taken by Joseph Zealy at the...
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Up Close (Virtually) with the Forbes Pigment Collection
Up Close (Virtually) with the Forbes Pigment CollectionMarina N. Bolotnikova Up Close (Virtually) with the Forbes Pigment CollectionThe Harvard Art Museums’ world-famous Forbes Pigment Collection,...
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“Made It: The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion”
All in A DayPeabody Essex Museum fashion exhibitNell Porter BrownJanuary-February 2021 h2-women-revolutionized-fashionThe Peabody Essex Museum’s newest exhibit opens with a white T-shirt—intended not...
View ArticlePicturing America
staff pickRobert Frank at the Addison Gallery, Andover, MassachusettsNell Porter BrownJanuary-February 2021 h2-picturing-americaGiven the current national crises, The Americans, the 1958 book by Robert...
View ArticleCassandra Albinson
Harvard PortraitHarvard Portrait: Cassandra AlbinsonJonathan ShawJanuary-February 2021 jhj-portrait-cassandra-albinsonVisiting a Victorian house museum with her mother (an architect), young Cassandra...
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“Magical Digressions”
TV writer and producer Jeff Schaffer talks shopTV writer and producer Jeff Schaffer on how to be funnyStuart MillerJanuary-February 2021 montage-magical-digressionsRemember thatSeinfeld episode where...
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Encounters at the Border
Photographer Morgan Smith's Images and Encounters at the Mexican BorderLydialyle Gibson Photographer Morgan Smith's Images and Encounters at the Mexican BorderThe first time photographer Morgan Smith...
View ArticleCulture in the Cold War
Defining FreedomAn intellectual history of the Cold War eraSpencer Lee LenfieldMarch-April 2021 right-now-culture-cold-warIn 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, the philosopher Hannah Arendt...
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A Gate of Whimsy
An innovative gate for Harvard YardJacob SweetMarch-April 2021 jhj-gate-of-whimsyBy Harvard standards, the gate outside Lamont Library wasn’t really a gate. “It was just an extension of the fencing,”...
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A Lone Star Saga
Open Book“Lone Stars”—an HLS grad’s semi-autobiographical debut novelFiction about “the power that comes to us when we uncloset ourselves”Lydialyle GibsonMarch-April 2021 montage-lone-star“The best I...
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Cartography Animated
How cartographers filled “empty” space with animalsThe era of imaginative mapmakingMarina N. BolotnikovaMarch-April 2021 treasure-cartography-animatedMapmaking, especially before the Enlightenment, had...
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Curator of American Culture
Profile of Radhika Jones <i>Vanity Fair'</i>s savvy taste-makerMarina N. BolotnikovaMarch-April 2021 alumni-radhika-jonesOn the eve of Election Day last fall, Vanity Fair editor-in-chief...
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Attention to Detail
A monumental book reveals a monumental work of artNicholas Callaway publishes the Sistine Chapel in closeup.Lydialyle GibsonMarch-April 2021 montage-sistine-chapel-photographerOn the ceiling of the...
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Returning to the Big Screen
ExplorationsGreater Boston’s art-house cinemas: a status reportGreater Boston’s small movie theaters strive to stay alive during the pandemic.March-April 2021 h2-returning-to-big-screenDuring the lulls...
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When Fantasy Isn’t Enough
“Some Kind of Heaven,” a documentary by Lance OppenheimDocumentarian Lance Oppenheim explores life in The Villages.Alex HulsMarch-April 2021 montage-the-villagesEver since documentarian Lance Oppenheim...
View ArticleMissed Some of 2020’s Best Films?
Recommended 2020 films to see online Nell Porter Brown H2_film_suggestionsReturning to the Big ScreenBecause many viewers missed out on 2020 films, the Brattle Theatre’s Ned Hinkle and Coolidge Corner...
View ArticleOur Masked Selves
Curiosities“This is Not a Gag,” MASS MoCANell Porter BrownMarch-April 2021 h2-our-masked-selvesIn the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, amid spreading fears and sheltered...
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Bringing the Stars to Light
Bringing the Stars to LightLydialyle Gibson Harvard Computers to become a television seriesIt is a Harvard story within a Harvard story: screenwriter Graham Sack ’03 and producer Jennifer 8. Lee ’99,...
View Articleal-Hariri
al-Hariri, a master storytellerBrief life of a master storyteller: 1054-1122Michael CoopersonMay-June 2021 features-vita-al-haririMuch of the late Harold Bloom’s literary criticism is bewildering, but...
View ArticleAll American
CuriositiesBaseball-jersey fashionNell Porter BrownMay-June 2021 h2-all-americanInspired by this spring’s arrival of the city’s minor-league baseball team, the Worcester Art Museum has mounted a new...
View ArticleBraxton Shelley
Harvard PortraitMusician and professor Braxton ShelleyJacob SweetMay-June 2021 jhj-portrait-braxton-shelleyWhen Braxton Shelley was five, he approached his church’s organist, fascinated by the man’s...
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“Like Driving at Night”
Novelist Maggie Shipstead and “Great Circle”Maggie Shipstead’s time-spanning, globe-circling new novelDan KellyMay-June 2021 montage-maggie-shipsteadIt may seem odd that Maggie Shipstead ’05, whose...
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Finding Voices
Arabic translator Marilyn BoothMarilyn Booth translates Arabic literature for Anglophone readers.Spencer Lee LenfieldMay-June 2021 montage-marilyn-boothMarilyn Booth ’77 is one of the world’s most...
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A Life in Harmonica
Singer, songwriter, harmonica player Scott Albert JohnsonScott Albert Johnson finds his path.Jacob SweetMay-June 2021 montage-life-in-harmonicaIt was the night before a final exam and Scott Albert...
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Clothes Overboard!
Dr. Jeffries balloons across the ChannelTwo explorers strip to stay aloft.Jacob SweetMay-June 2021 treasure-clothes-overboardThe first hot-air balloon trip across the English Channel began buoyantly....
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Alexander Gassel’s “Painted Poetry”
Alexander Gassel retrospective at the Museum of Russian IconsNell Porter BrownMay-June 2021 h2-painted-poetryAt first glance, the more romantic paintings by Alexander Gassel could simply be storybook...
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A Net-Zero-Energy Victorian Home Makes History
A Net-Zero-Energy Victorian Home Makes HistoryThe brand-new—but historic—house at 60 Stearns Street in Cambridge, MassachusettsKristina DeMichele net-zero-energy-victorian-home-cambridgeEarth Day...
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