Thousands of hours and millions of words have gone into producing this newspaper over the last 100 years. Greater and lesser men and women have written for its pages, conducted its business, and forged its image. --The Harvard Crimson January 24, 1973

AND WITH those words, The Crimson plunged into its second century. the first century had been memorable: Crimson editors had gone on to become presidents, Pulitzer Prize-winners, Marxist economists, business magnates. The paper's politics had wavered from the far left to the right, but a thread of liberalism seemed inextricably woven into the fabric of the organization... And it was somehow fitting that on the 100th anniversary of the first edition of The Crimson, 450 former Crimson editors congregated on Cambridge for a Centennial dinner.

The dinner guests were a distinguished and diverse group, but they reflected the political trend of the paper over the last 100 years. After dinner and speeches, the group voted to send a resolution to President Nixon, asking him to sign the October peace agreement and to renounce any further U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia.

Other important decisions were made that weekend. The Crimson's Board of Graduate Editors approved plans for an offset press. Until 1971, The Crimson printed its daily edition in the basement of the Crimson building at 14 Plympton St.

But the economics of letterpress printing proved too costly for the paper, and photo-composition equipment was purchased. The Crimson, however, did not have enough capital to purchase an offset press, so the paper went through a number of different printers before finding happiness at Arlington Offset.

But the entire process of printing a daily newspaper will return to the Crimson building at 14 Plympton in February 1974, when a new Goss Community press revs up to print the first edition of volume 159.

And while The Crimson won't own the most modern or most expensive equipment available, it will be a far different newspaper than the one which Hollis Gleason '08, the oldest Crimson editor to attend the Centennial celebration, remembers from his day.

The Crimson began unpretentiously enough in 1873 by announcing in a simple statement of purpose: "I won't philosophize. I will be read." At that time, the paper was called The Magenta, and was published biweekly. The paper promised to obey all the canons of journalism: fairness, accuracy, objectivity.

The Magenta looked like other newspapers of its day. Articles ran in single columns and no photographs or drawings brightened the pages. The paper appeared to function as a clearinghouse for University information, and the editorial causes ranged from turning off the Yard gas lights at a later hour to more school spirit.

When the college changed the school color to crimson in 1875, The Magenta decided to change its colors as well. In May 1876, The Crimson appeared, but the new nomenclature could not disguise the basic problems of The Magenta: the paper was losing money.

After some financial wheeling and dealing that enables the paper to survive for a few years, The Crimson and its rival, The Advocate, began to discuss the possibility of merger. But the older Advocate haughtily rejected the idea, and The Crimson decided, on June 28, 1882, to publish as a weekly.

The weekly Crimson meant a change in direction. In a editorial on June 28, The Crimson said that to remain a fortnightly would mean to compete with the Advocate on a magazine-level. The Crimson wanted to be a newspaper.

The newspaper field at Harvard was well-stocked. The Harvard Echo had been around since 1879, and The Harvard Daily Herald appeared in early 1882.

And The Herald had quickly taken a vigorous approach to the news, challenging the older Echo. When the Advocate spurned The Crimson's merger offer, the Herald gladly accepted.

The Daily Herald-Crimson appeared in October, 1883. One year later, the name was changed to The Harvard Crimson, and the paper ended its metamorphosis. Technologically, politically, and financially, The Crimson would change over the next 90 years, but the name and the rate of publication would remain the same.