Food Fight

Battle in Commons Hall

Battle in Commons Hall [drawing, 1819] by William Henry Furness. Harvard University Archives. HUD 610 PF, olvwork365138, Harvard University

Divided We Eat

This early 19th-century drawing of Harvard's Commons Hall depicts a lively battle, possibly with a touch of satire. While such behavior would have been punishable by the Puritans running Harvard in the 17th century, students did occasionally protest the quality of the food. The college’s first schoolmaster, Nathaniel Eaton, was dismissed because he did such a poor job of providing the students with decent meals. The college responded by appointing Henry Dunster as the college’s president. Dunster put great efforts into providing his students with enough food and in addition to teaching gave himself the responsibility “to direct their brewer, baker, buttler, cook, how to proportion their commons.”

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