Harvard University Portraits Very Revealing

Ruth McCambridge

November 8, 2010

November 7, 2010; Source: Boston Globe | Harvard University’s portrait collection, spread all around its campus is—not surprisingly—almost entirely of white men. A full 690 of the 750 portraits in question are of white men and most of the rest are of white women, Radcliffe professors, benefactors’ family members, and presidents’ wives. Only two are of people of color. The school is now hanging a number of other portraits of its community who can diversify the image but will not displace any already hanging. Personally, I am anxious to see the results! How will they manage the look and public story of this project?—Ruth McCambridge

About the author

Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

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