The Best of The College Pump Author:John T. Bethell For almost half a century, an irregular column calling itself "The College Pump" has appeared in The Harvard Alumni Bulletin and its successor, Harvard Magazine. Take "irregular" in whatever sense you choose. Over the years, the column has turned up in every concievable corner of the host publication, and from the outset it has been an omnium-ga... more »therum of odd bytes of information, literary snippets, light verse, historical reminiscence, and objets trouves of Harvardania - sometimes hastily assembled, sometimes elaborated with a degreee of tender, loving editorial care that in retrospect seems extraordinary.
In time it became apparent that a Pump anthology was a project begging to be taken in hand. The event of David McCord's ('21) 90th birthday (November 15th, 1987) provided the appropriate occasion (McCord had put in 6 1/2 years as editor of the magazine and manned the Pump's beginning) - reinforced by the rehabilitation of the actual college pump, undertaken as a 350th anniversary present from Radcliffe to Harvard that summer. This is the result.« less