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Originally, it was "The Freshman
Chair". It served as one of a score of sturdy dining chairs in the Freshman
Dining Room, one of four large rooms on the first floor of "College
Commons", the original name of Harvard's University Hall,
designed by Charles Bullfinch in 1811.
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University Hall in the 1800s
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Harvard freshmen
apparently waged fierce food fights with upperclassmen. When this resulted in broken dishes
in 1818, one of the young perps, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, was "rusticated" (sent home) to Concord for a
semester to think things over before returning. Designed
with unique cutouts allowing them to be pulled from
the table, the chairs were fashioned by local craftsmen
to outlast anything students could come up with. Early
in the 20th century, one of the remaining chairs was
found and restored. A richly decorated replica dubbed
"The Harvard Chair" was soon offered for sale to
alumni by the Harvard Alumni Association. Since that
time, this unique chair has been recognized, and
utilized, throughout the college and proudly possessed
by Harvard graduates throughout the world in their
homes, libraries, offices, and practices.
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During most of this time, "The Harvard
Chair" was made only by Nichols & Stone in Gardner, Ma. As chair manufacturing shifted overseas, many
old firms faced difficult times. Nichols & Stone was sold to outside
investors in the 1990s and the new management refused a Harvard license. After
years of missing fees that would have gone to undergraduate financial
aid, Harvard acted. As Harvard alone could authorize its own unique
style, it selected the family owned 100-year-old
F.W. Lombard Co. in Ashburnham, one of
the last traditional chair firms in Massachusetts, to
create the first Harvard-licensed, updated version
of its classic design (click
here to learn more
about Lombard). With its "comfort planed"
seat and superior full-taper construction, Harvard
had the chair it wanted, and alumni finally had a choice.
The Lombard Classic is
available with seals of Harvard University, the Harvard houses, the Harvard
graduate schools, the Extension School and summer school.
The Executive Program Collectiontm,
exclusive to F.W. Lombard and
Everything Harvard.com
also includes all Harvard Executive Programs is available now!
Click here.
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