Past Events
& Exhibitions
View recordings of more Radcliffe events on YouTube.
All Events & Exhibitions
Solidarity! Exhibition Gallery Tour
Gallery Events • Solidarity! Gallery SeriesPlease join us for a tour of the Solidarity! Transnational Feminisms Then and Now exhibition led by our student guides and staff from the Schlesinger Library.
2 PM ET
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Abolition Forgery: A History of the Afterlives of Slavery
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Joy Foundation Fellow Ndubueze L. Mbah
12 PM ET
Memory, Memorialization, and Public History: A Discussion with Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Dan Byers, Tracey Hucks, and Brenda Tindal
Radcliffe on the RoadJoin Tomiko Brown-Nagin for a discussion of memory, memorialization, and public history with Dan Byers, Tracey Hucks, and Brenda Tindal, presented as part of the Presidential Initiative on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery.
757 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Language and Thought
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 William Bentinck-Smith Fellow Asifa Majid
12 PM ET
The Moving Parts (&) Tour with the Artist Mary Lum
Gallery Events • The Moving Parts (&) Gallery SeriesJoin the artist Mary Lum and the curator Meg Rotzel for a tour and discussion of the exhibition The Moving Parts (&).
12 PM ET
8 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Music in a Burning World
Lectures • Kim and Judy Davis Dean’s Lecture in the ArtsThe 2023 Kim and Judy Davis Dean’s Lecture in the Arts will feature the Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning composer John Luther Adams.
4 PM ET
10 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Kim and Judy Davis Dean's Lecture in the Social Sciences: Conversation with Tressie McMillan Cottom
Lectures • Kim and Judy Davis Dean’s Lecture in the Social SciencesThe 2023 Kim and Judy Davis Dean’s Lecture in the Social Sciences will feature Tressie McMillan Cottom in conversation with Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin.
4 PM ET
10 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Countering Culture: Shirley Clarke and the Edges of Cinema
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Mildred Londa Weisman Fellow Jaimie Baron
12 PM ET
Intimate Inequalities
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Frieda L. Miller Fellow Brodwyn Fischer
12 PM ET
Arriving at the Junction of Statistics and Biology: My Journey
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Helen Putnam Fellow Jingyi Jessica Li
12 PM ET
ArtsThursdays: The Moving Parts (&)
Gallery Events • The Moving Parts (&) Gallery SeriesVisit Mary Lum’s exhibition The Moving Parts (&) during ArtsThursdays extended gallery hours.
5 PM ET
8 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
When Wounds Travel: Chronicles of War Biology East of the Mediterranean
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Hrdy Fellow Omar Dewachi
12 PM ET
Analyzing Earth’s “Fine Prints”: High-Resolution Geological Records Inform Near Future Climate Change
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fellow Hong Yang
12 PM ET
The Heisenberg Variations: Imagination, Invention, and Uncertainty
Lectures • Julia S. Phelps Annual Lecture in the Arts and HumanitiesHow do we create art? How do we become ourselves? In this year’s Julia S. Phelps Annual Lecture in the Arts and Humanities, Jennifer Finney Boylan considers the way revision and reinvention serve—not only as necessary aspects of the creative process—but also as a model for the way we live our lives, and create ourselves, through trial and error.
4 PM ET
10 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Wiring Gaia in the Anthropocene: “Smart Earth” Digital Technologies and Environmental Futures
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Matina S. Horner Distinguished Visiting Professor Karen Bakker
12 PM ET
Mary Lum: The Moving Parts (&) Opening Event
LecturesIn this opening discussion for the newly commissioned exhibition The Moving Parts (&), the artist Mary Lum will engage in a wide-ranging conversation with the art historian Steven Nelson.
4 PM ET
Quartette: Stories from the Lives of Four Women Jazz Musicians—Maxine Sullivan, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, and Shirley Scott
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Fellow Maxine Gordon
12 PM ET
Chilean Constitutional Reform: Mother Nature, Mapuche Women, and Decolonial Perspectives
Lectures • Rama S. Mehta LectureHarvard Radcliffe Institute is pleased to welcome Elisa Loncón Antileo to deliver the Rama S. Mehta Lecture for 2022–2023. In 2021, Loncón was elected as one of the representatives of the Mapuche people to the Chilean Constitutional Convention, and was then named the Convention’s first president (July 2021–January 2022).
4 PM ET
10 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Conference: The Age of Roe: The Past, Present, and Future of Abortion in America
Conferences & SymposiaHarvard Radcliffe Institute will hold a major public conference to probe the complex and unpredictable ways that Roe v. Wade and its aftermath shaped the United States and the world beyond it for nearly half a century. The existential issue of abortion—and the galvanizing impact of Roe in particular—transformed the nation’s politics and public policy and its social movement energies, as well as the operations of the courtroom and the clinic.
9:15 AM ET
10 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
The Age of Roe: Voices from the Front Lines
Conferences & SymposiaThis opening session of the "Age of Roe" conference features speakers with a range of perspectives from the front lines of debates about abortion, birth, and birth disparities. Each will tell stories from their work and talk about the work of stories in their own social movement and thought leadership.
7 PM ET
10 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Understanding Language Survival: Theory, Methods, and Action
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Hilles Bush Fellow Roberto Zariquiey
12 PM ET
Art, Activism, and Climate Change: Conversation with Angélique Kidjo and Vijay Iyer
LecturesHarvard Radcliffe Institute and the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University present a series of virtual programs focusing on the intersection of art, activism and climate change. The second program in the series will feature Angélique Kidjo in conversation with Vijay Iyer.
4 PM ET
Art, Activism, and Climate Change: Conversation with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
LecturesHarvard Radcliffe Institute and the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University present a series of virtual programs focusing on the intersection of art, activism, and climate change. The first program in the series will feature Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.
4 PM ET
Exploring the Landscape of Functional Proteins by Computational Design
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Grass Fellow Bruno Correia
12 PM ET
Algorithms for Personalizing Digital Interventions
Fellows' PresentationA presentation from 2022–2023 Radcliffe Alumnae Professor Susan A. Murphy
12 PM ET
Playing Fair? Title IX at 45
ExhibitionOver the past four decades, the phrase “Title IX” has become practically synonymous with women’s sports. The events leading up to Title IX’s passage in 1972 and the struggle ever since to figure out how to implement the law fairly demonstrate how athletics became part of the broader political and cultural struggles of contemporary American life.
through Saturday, September 16, 2017
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
A.K. Burns: No Time, No Place, No Body
Exhibitionthrough Friday, April 14, 2017
8 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Lamia Joreige: After the River
ExhibitionIn this exhibition, the visual artist and filmmaker Lamia Joreige uncovers the different facets of Nahr Beirut (Beirut River), with its recent and rapid transformations from dumping ground to a place scheduled for ambitious development. After the River invites reflection on the interwoven narratives of the river, its surroundings, and the people who live and work there.
through Saturday, March 4, 2017
8 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Wendy Jacob: Calm. Smoke rises vertically.
ExhibitionWorking with vibrating walls, a livestreaming weather report, and architectural models from schools for the blind, this exhibition explores sensory experience through differing modes of perception. The artist Wendy Jacob challenges the viewer to place touch on an equal footing with sight. The title comes from the Beaufort Wind Scale, which relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land.
through Saturday, January 14, 2017
8 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
through Friday, March 17, 2017
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Women of the Blackwell Family: Resilience and Change
ExhibitionThe Blackwells were a multigenerational family of abolitionists, entrepreneurs, educators, musicians, doctors, writers, expatriates, suffrage supporters, and women’s rights activists.
through Friday, October 21, 2016
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Seeds of Culture: The Portraits and Stories of Native American Women
ExhibitionMatika Wilbur, a member of the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes and the creator and director of Project 562, selects a group of striking photographs from among the thousands of portraits she has taken in recent years. Written narratives and audio of the interviews she conducted as part of her project accompany the photographs. Elders, activists, educators, culture-bearers, artists, and students have shared with Wilbur their realities as Native women. They convey how ancestral and contemporary identities shape their lives and hopes in Indian Country.
through Saturday, May 28, 2016
8 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Valérie Massadian: Little People
ExhibitionThere should be a fancy text here.
There won’t be. Sorry. I’m not fancy.
I’d rather get on my knees and talk with children
I’d rather talk to strangers whose language sometimes I can’t understand
I’d rather sense people, little and not so little, beyond language
I’d rather share the beauty of silence between two souls
I’d rather protect the sensuality and the precious way children improvise the world I’d rather spend time building a shack with a four-year-old than socialize
I’d rather, you’d rather, we’d rather. . .
In here, I’ll gently ask you to take your shoes off, and if you got holes in your socks, who cares, I do very often.
And when you take your shoes off, try to also take your armor off—for here, you can roll on the carpet, lay on the bed, draw on the walls, hide in the closet, sit in silence, gaze into the joy, the sadness, the way children are in and out of the world they live in, with and without us.
—Valérie Massadian
through Saturday, April 16, 2016
8 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
“A Language to Hear Myself”: Feminist Poets Speak
Exhibition“A Language to Hear Myself”: Feminist Poets Speak celebrates the ways that feminist poets fashioned words and ideas into a powerful form of personal and political expression.
through Friday, June 17, 2016
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Reiko Yamada and Vijay Iyer: Reflective
ExhibitionThis installation is unique in that its material is drawn from recordings of the acclaimed jazz pianist, composer, and Harvard professor Vijay Iyer. The sound material, improvised and recorded in collaboration with Reiko Yamada, has been digitally processed and programmed specifically for the exhibition.
Reflective explores the relationship among decisions, actions, and results. The movements of a visitor in the intimate, darkened gallery space is detected by motion capture sensors, which alter the sound quality of the precomposed piece, making the experience more disturbing or pleasant. Each visitor experiences a unique version of the piece, which is four minutes long.
through Saturday, January 30, 2016
8 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Cookbooks to Treasure: Culinary Rarities from the Schlesinger Library
ExhibitionFrom Renaissance medical manuals expounding the health and mood-influencing qualities of foods, to the first cookbooks by women, the books in this exhibition open windows into understanding the people who produced and used them.
through Friday, February 19, 2016
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
teamLab at Radcliffe: What a Loving and Beautiful World
ExhibitionThis exhibition is only the second ever in the United States dedicated to teamLab, which has been acclaimed by critics for its ability to digitally generate sophisticated and dreamlike worlds. In teamLab at Radcliffe: What a Loving and Beautiful World, Chinese and Japanese characters appear on the walls of the gallery. When the viewer’s hand touches a character, an image of the meaning of the character emerges and interacts with images generated from other characters. The result is a colorful, multisensory space that continuously evolves as the images that are released from the characters influence one another.
through Saturday, December 19, 2015
Corita Kent: Footnotes and Headlines
ExhibitionThis exhibition explores Kent’s teaching, artistic process, career, and activism, all of which disrupted the dichotomies of fine/commercial art and religious/secular art.
through Friday, December 4, 2015
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Until Safety is Guaranteed: Women and the Fight Against Violence
ExhibitionThis exhibition provides historical evidence on the topic of gender violence and documents the experiences of women who have survived domestic abuse and sexual violence.
through Friday, August 14, 2015
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
What They Wrote, What They Saved: The Personal Civil War
ExhibitionThis exhibition features diaries, letters, and firsthand accounts from four years of Civil War that offer intimate glimpses into the lives of men and women affected by the strife.
through Friday, March 20, 2015
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Judy Chicago: Through the Archives
ExhibitionJudy Chicago was born Judith Sylvia Cohen in Chicago, Illinois, on July 20, 1939, the oldest child in a family of secular Jewish liberals. Her father, Arthur, conveyed a passion for social justice and a belief that the purpose of life was to make a difference.
through Thursday, September 25, 2014
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
It Changed My Life: The Feminine Mystique at 50
ExhibitionFriedan's assertion that women needed meaningful work to be fulfilled propelled her book to the best-seller list and began a national conversation about gender equality.
through Thursday, February 6, 2014
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Stepping Stones for New Americans
ExhibitionThe documents and memorabilia of Denison House, the Lebanese Syrian Ladies' Aid Society, the North Bennet Street School, and the Window Shop showcase the diversity of the immigrant experience in Boston and the changing socio-political context in which the groups operated.
through Thursday, September 13, 2018
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tenacious Women: Activists in a Democratic Society
ExhibitionThe exhibit features the lives and work of four women from the late 19th century through the end of the 20th century, who were dedicated to democratic change and expanding the rights and freedoms of women and all Americans. From traditional methods of lobbying legislators and holding elected office to grassroots public demonstrations and teach-ins, these women exemplified American civic responsibility.
through Friday, September 7, 2012
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
It’s Complicated: 375 Years of Women at Harvard
ExhibitionThe Radcliffe College Archives at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America are a uniquely valuable resource for the study of women in higher education, the Harvard-Radcliffe relationship, and the lives of the many remarkable women affiliated with Radcliffe College. The archives chronicle Radcliffe College from its beginning as the Harvard Annex in 1879 through its transition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in 1999. The Library's resources about Radcliffe College were used to create this exploration of the complicated story of women at Harvard University, and an evolution toward equality.
through Thursday, May 31, 2012
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Women on the Clock: Hard Work and Low Wages
ExhibitionWomen on the Clock: Hard Work and Low Wages showcases the everyday experiences of women who work for an hourly wage. Organized into five sections—service industries, factory and mill work, clerical and office work, non-traditional trade jobs, and organizations that fought against discrimination in the workplace—this exhibition uses diary excerpts, letters, surveys, photographs, and audio-visual recordings to illustrate women workers’ trials and triumphs.
through Monday, March 12, 2012
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Our Bodies, Ourselves: The Collective Goes Global
ExhibitionForty years ago a small group of women in Boston, frustrated by a lack of useful medical information, began an enterprise to educate themselves and others about their bodies. The fruit of this endeavor, which took shape in an ongoing process of discovering and sharing knowledge collectively, was the ground-breaking Our Bodies, Ourselves, a publication that was subsequently translated and adapted into more than 25 languages, and made available around the globe.
through Wednesday, October 12, 2011
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
From Woman To Human: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman
ExhibitionThough she wrote and lectured extensively on reforming marriage and the family, Charlotte Perkins Gilman rued the attention and notoriety that her own marriages and family life unavoidably attracted.
through Thursday, February 17, 2011
3 James Street
Cambridge, MA 02138