With a buffet of champagne and cookies waiting, approximately 50 History and Literature seniors yesterday became the first members of the class of 1999 to hand in their completed theses.

In the Barker Center, committee Faculty members congratulated the wiped-out seniors with bottles of bubbly, Pepperidge Farm cookies and warm, relieved smiles.

The March I deadline, Harvard's earliest thesis due date, has been hanging over History and Literature concentrators since the summer.

Co-Chair of the Committee on Instruction John T. O'Keefe, who is also an instructor in History and Literature, explained that the early date is designed to allow seniors in the concentration to spend the latter half of their tutorials preparing for the end-of-year oral exams.

"I think in the end they like having it early-they can catch up with senior year," O'Keefe said.

Senior concentrators echoed O'Keefe's assessment.

"I love it," said William S. Seybold '99, who wrote his thesis on a revolutionary opposition group to the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. "Everyone is going to write his thesis at the last minute. It's nice to do it ahead of time."

Another senior says the early due date should be universalized. "It's fabulous. Harvard should make all theses due before Christmas break," said Shannon E. Delage '99.

Some seniors have been working on their theses since the summer, while others have been at it for only a month and a half. But almost all seniors interviewed confess that their 50-to 80-page papers were not completed until just this week.

Kevin R. Amer '99 was one senior with a last-minute thesis traumas. "I made three trips to Kinko's, but they kept screwing up the copies. It is a maddening experience when you think you're done, but then you're not."

Delage had bigger problems, though. "Three weeks before it was due, my computer mysteriously broke into pieces," she said. "I had to use a borrowed computer to finish the thesis, and I had no printer."

But her thesis nightmare doesn't stop there. "Then, 72 hours before the due date, I fractured my wrist at the gym and have been typing with a cast all weekend," Delage added.

Now that they have finally finished the seniors are looking to the future.

Allison E. Vigil '99 said she will be going job-hunting, while Seybold said he willdo "absolutely nothing."

Other thesis writers have more immediateengagements. Delage said that her roommates haveplanned a celebratory Boston dinner to commemorateher achievement.

Now, the burden of work falls on the thesisadvisers. Faculty members in History andLiterature ensure that each thesis is read by atleast two people. O'Keefe said that this is atimely process.

The theses, with topics ranging from FrankLloyd Wright's architecture to Peruvian poets, canbe written on either historical or literaturetopics, or both.

Most tutors encourage students to integratetheir interests and pick a subject area thatencompasses each of the two disciplines, accordingto O'Keefe