Until the early seventies, there were no women in the Harvard Band. Except one. Her name was Alice Tondel. A Cambridge artist, she was commissioned to paint a drum head the night before the 1949 Harvard-Yale game. That night was the beginning of a long career of posters, Christmas cards, Bass Drum Journals, marigolds, clipboards, and cigars.
Mom's career with the Harvard
Band outlasted several directors and thousands of students. Do you have
a Mom memory or story that you would like to share? Drop a note to
mom-memory@hubalums.org.
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Who was this "Mom" person? Read all about her in this Harvard Crimson article, which has been annotated for accuracy (as always seems necessary with Crimson articles). |
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Alice explains in her own words how she became Mom and what her role was. |
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Alice had always planned to write a book about the Harvard Band and spent many years collecting the stories of band members. This is a rough outline of what she was looking to accomplish. |