HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Dec. 15, 1788 - From the "Journal of Disorders" of Eliphalet Pearson, the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages: "More disorders at my public lecture, than I ever knew before. The bible, cloth, candles, and branches, I found laid in confusion upon the seat of the desk. During lecture several pebbles were snapped, certain gutteral [sic] sounds were made on each side the chapel, beside some whistling."

December 1832 - In his Cambridge home, German-born Charles Theodore Christian Follen, Professor of the German Language and Literature, introduces the Christmas tree to the United States. The Harvard Alumni Bulletin reconstructs the scene:

"[. . .] When his son was two years old, Follen determined that the lad should carry into adulthood fond memories of bright Christmases. He went to the woods near his home, which was on the corner of what is now Follen Street, and cut an eight-foot tree. He barred his study to all and set about cutting paper ornaments. He carefully placed over a hundred candles on the tree. All the neighborhood children had been invited to the Follen house for a great and mysterious occasion. When he flung wide the study door, the pure delight of Christmas twinkled in the eyes of children for the first time in these United States."

Copyright 2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College