About

The Division of Arts & Humanities at Harvard is like a rambling old house with wondrous rooms. It contains fifteen departments, four interdisciplinary undergraduate degree programs, and multiple secondary fields. Its attics and cellars contain heaven knows what. A restless spirit of curiosity and awakening pervades every space and activity.

The faculty and staff share a passion for understanding the stories, songs, art works, places, arguments, and things that human communities have made their own. They are dedicated to helping students see the world from different cultural and historical perspectives, enabling them to imagine other possibilities for human society. 

They use the powers of careful attention, rigorous analysis, and inquisitive conversation to help students make sense of the bewildering, conflicted, and marvelous world in which they live.

Scholarly pursuit in the arts and the humanities is a social enterprise, an active mode of exploring the past and testing out the future. Our aim is to cultivate a spirit of open inquiry and resourcefulness. No experience or medium is beyond the reach of our interest.  

For this exploratory venture, Harvard is a dream laboratory. Our museums contain exhilarating works of art and astonishing artifacts, our libraries house rare manuscripts, diaries, and documents, and our studios and making spaces are extraordinary facilities for creative engagement. 

Those attics and cellars, in other words, contain treasures available nowhere else. Today, every purse and pocket can contain a digital fount of data and diversion, but Harvard offers experiences of things, activities, and people that no device can provide. College is a time to take advantage of where you are. 

To experience the Arts & Humanities is to know Harvard at its best.