Harvard Alumni - Class of 1961

Dear 1961 Class Members,

I have excellent news to report.  As of last week, the number of Classmates contributing to our video of the three dioramas has grown to 63.  They are listed at the end of this update.  The total contributed thus far is $92,286.  That leaves only $37,714 needed to meet our goal of $130,000.  Please give this effort your serious consideration.  

There are at least the following six reasons for you to mail Greg Downes your check today:

1.  Stages of Harvard's architectural history can be seen side-by-side, spaning 270 years.
2.  The narration will be educational and dramatic.  
3.  The 1936 HMC-owned Diorama could never have been part of the public display.  
4.  The focus will be on the evolution of a learning institution.  
5.  The background music will be tailored to each historical period.  
6.  You don't have to travel to enjoy them, and the experience is repeatable and easily shared with others.  

Please join the list of classmates contributing by sending your check, payable to “The Harvard & Radcliffe Class of 1961,” and note “Pitman Diorama” or “Video Production” in the memo.  Mail your check to:  

Mr. Gregory Downes
203 Adams Street
Milton, MA  02186.  

Please be as generous as you can for this important Video project.  Of our goal of $130,000, $110,000 is for the Video budget and $20,000 will be reserved in the Class Treasury for contingencies and for Events we envision for 2022, both In Person and Virtual.  These gifts to our Class will not be counted towards your 60^th Reunion Gift by Harvard.  This Video is a critical part of our Permanent Class Gift to Harvard.  However, because our class is a 501(c)(3) entity, your gift is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.  Please help us cross the finish line by April 30^th.  If we do not achieve our goal by then, we will resume our efforts in July.  No donation is too small.  We hope to hear from you soon.

With warm regards,

A Look Inside the Diorama Video Project

The following descriptions, pictures and diagrams will help you understand how the Restoration will be accomplished, how the finished work will be displayed, and the scope of the Video Production. 

We, the Class Reunion Committee, at our recent meeting on Januar4y 13, 2021, voted to add a video component to our Class Gift of restoration, presentation and installation of the first two Pittman Dioramas.  Here is a report on the development of the video presentation, and the need for supplemental funding.  This report that explain the format, content and purposes of the video itself, and tell of the actual progress in production.  As we continue to work on the video, we have become increasingly aware of its dual potential to not only show phases of the archietctural growth of Harvard, but also to provide commentary on the manifold locations and many fields of inquiry that continue to contribute to Harvard's search for Truth. 

1.  Restoration – The First Two Dioramas

As you are aware, the first two dioramas depict the College in 1667 – shortly after the first Harvard buildings began to form the Yard, and in 1775 – on the eve of the Revolution when Washington’s Continental Army, such as it was, was billeted in the Yard and training on the Cambridge Common.  As promised, these dioramas have been saved from neglected storage and are in a large studio space in Allston.  They are being restored with funds from last year’s successful fundraising, under contract to Harvard’s Office of Campus Services.  The original three, very heavy, curved painted backdrops, separated from their base models, are also in the studio for restoration.  As you know, it is the background that makes a diorama more than a model, a three-dimensional illusion of reality.  

2.  Hold On Exhibition Construction
       

But the same Covid restrictions that have so limited the Harvard campus from its core mission of education have also constrained the completion of our gift.  Construction of the climate-controlled display cases and the design and installation of dramatic exhibition lighting are planned for completion next spring – with one exception of some underlying cabinet substructure stabilizing the extremely fragile models.  The rest awaits Harvard’s designation of a suitable venue and the return of a live audience. 

3.  Access – The Third Diorama 

The diorama depicting the 1936 expansion of the University was created to commemorate the Tercentenary.  The area depictied builds out from what was, by then, Harvard Square, well into the city to the north and east, and extends south across the Charles to the new Business School and athletic facilities.  it was originally installed in the main stair landing at Widener.  Of the three dioramas that Pitman and his team built from 1945 through 1947, this highly detailed and accurate model is the most dramatic.  It was salvaged and restored by the Harvard Management Company (HMC) a few years ago, but only the horizontal part of the model currently resides under a plastic cover.  It is the pride of their lobby in downtown Boston.  But, as you can imagine, up until recently HMC has shown little interest in “their” diorama being reunited with its companion pieces.  

We are elated to report that a few weeks ago, through the gentle, but effective, persuasion of a well-placed classmate, the video has given us a way to reunite the trio, at least virtually.  As long as the 1936 model does not have to leave the lobby, HMC has enthusiastically endorsed our filming it “on location.” Our project is especially timely because most of their employees are working from home now, so that our film crew will not disturb their operation.  It will be difficult to do the diorama justice because of low ceiling height, a somewhat constrained office area, and a service elevator that is too small to accommodate the backdrop.  Difficult, but not impossible for us to do virtually.

4.  The Video – The Diorama Story

We originally planned the video to be about ten minutes long, with fairly straightforward fly-overs and some ground level shots from the modeled figures’ point of view, plus an interview or two, and opening and closing titles and credits.  But as we discovered how much there was to their story, we realized that we could do more than dispassionately present the dioramas.  Let us instead fashion a compelling story to the advantage of a wider audience, so maybe we would have a somewhat longer presentation, perhaps up to 20- or 25 minutes.  It should not be too long, but the material will tell us what will make the most potent video. 

5.  Magic

The length and complexity of the video will depend on how creative and successful the difficult filming of the dioramas themselves turns out to be.  The video shooting can allow us to see the dioramas in ways not possible before – showing remarkable detail.  With close-up zooming, then zooming back to superimpose vintage maps, we can give remarkable context.  With slow panning shots across a whole diorama, we can place the viewer powerfully in different places and times.  With tracking crane shots we can follow a resident down a particular path, and capture his point-of-view.  With electronic legerdemain we can light two of the three dioramas for different times of day, changing weather and moods… maybe even float an early-morning mist across a dawn landscape. 

6.  Other Content

Then there will be the quality and amount of other visual subject matter such as old maps, new diagrams, historical engravings, period photographs, newspaper articles, etc., and perhaps some research materials that we do not yet know about.  There will also be a number of short interview segments on the restoration and the condition of these dioramas, and on the position these works occupy as part of the University Art Collection.  Then there are historical patterns of urban growth, of new expansion imperatives, of the history of dioramas as an art form and communication tool.  There is so much one could tell related to the dioramas themselves, but also on what they show us about the larger idea of Harvard.  We should note, this need not be a one-off video to entertain a Reunion class, but rather that we should aspire to an artistic creation for the ages. 

7.  Audio

And then we can add audio: evocative, mood-setting music, plus the sounds of the time and place.  Listen to noises of the pastoral landscape among the orchards and livestock, the dirt roads of 1667 that will become Harvard Square.  Hear the martial sounds of musketry and canon practice, and bands of the encamped army of 1775.  Become engulfed by the urban sounds of the 1936 city center:  trolleys, cars and trucks, closely-packed citizens.  What enhanced recreation is possible?  

8.  Coda

Finally, we can end the video with a coda expressing how proud we, as the Harvard-Radcliffe of 1961 Class, are to be contributing to an effort that will be visible not just to the few hundred classmates, and the other visitors who venture to Cambridge/Allston to see the two actual dioramas on display, but to our whole class (including those who can no longer return for reunions) and the thousands who can now witness a video that presents an historical legacy and useful teaching tool. 

9.  Production Progress

Already exploratory production conferences and a number of scripting sessions have been held between the class video team, the University and tahe production house.  Their lead creative producer, accompanied by their chief technology director, were on-site last week, actually seeing all three models and backgrounds for the first time.  While they were “here”, they scouted shots for on-location filming, checked out some interview candidates, and began to build the production schedule backwards from completion: back from “lock”, final cut, rough cut, B-roll shooting, pre-production wrap, and contract acceptance with retainer. 

10.  Additional Video

Scoping of 2022 live-streaming of events have not been filming of pre-recorded segments,in the Video Project, except as they may be included in the unused contingency of $20,000.  The Cathcart & Klein comedy routine is to be funded by a separate $10,000. furnished by the HAA.  

HAA contributes to reunion classes and aids in funding their reunions, and hence does not appear in these calculations.  We may add a, say, five minute  preview/teaser to be broadcast with the 2021 virtual reunion events, with B-roll footage already in the can from this spring’s filming, preliminary interview clips, and some appetite-whetting diorama footage. 

11.  Paying For It

Since no Video component was included in the original class gift Restoration scenario, no money was raised for it in our first round of fundraising last year.  Others have described the need, ability and method for raising the $110,000 budgeted for the video as planned, plus another $20,000 to be available as a contingency against unforeseen developments in the production.  Although the budget is structured to allow for mid-course correction, it is our intention that the additional $20,000 will be used for livestreaming of the planned 2022 In-Person Celebration, for those who cannot attend.  

12.  Support from The Harvard Community 

We must tell you of the HAA’s vigorous support working alongside our team, of the Harvard Office of Campus Services’ positive involvement, and of Harvard Management’s active participation.  Absent any of these, our efforts would not be possible.

13.  List of Donors

With the gift of copyright to the video added to our class gift, the video can be a remarkable Public Information Resource for Harvard.  Our thanks to the 42 who have already donated.  As of today, they include

14. Campaign Advisors

To provide you with convenient access to information and materials, several Reunion Committee members have volunteered to serve as Campaign Advisors.  They will be happy to answer your questions. 

Newell Flather: 617-244-8009, newellf@aol.com  

Carmen Gentile:  202-412-0004, clgentile@mac.com

Spencer Jourdain 407-506-2071. 1420foundation@cs.ucf.edu

Bill Kargman:  617-661-8837, bkarg@firstrealtymgt.com

Shrub Kempner  409-744-2443, kempner@kempnercapital.com

Josh Young: 617-242-1471, joshuaasyoung@gmail.com

15.  How to Donate

If you are inspired, please donate to fund this video enhancement of our Class Gift, that will become part of our 2022 Class Celebration.  Please make your check payable to “The Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1961,” noting “Pitman Diorama” or “Video Production Fund” in the memo, and mail it to:  

Mr. Gregory Downes
203 Adams Street,
Milton, MA  02186. 

If you have the opportunity, please encourage other Classmates to give so that we can present all three Dioramas to the widest possible audience.  Thank you. 

Gifts to our Class Treasury in response to this campaign will not be counted towards your 60^th Reunion gift to Harvard.  However, because our Class is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) entity, gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Your generosity will greatly extend the reach and significance of our Class Gift, and enhance its legacy.  We hope every Class member will make at least some contribution.  Our six Campaign Advisors, in #14 above will be reaching out to you soon.