Radcliffe College, for many decades the women’s college at Harvard, began as “The Harvard Annex,” both physically and symbolically secondary to the men-only Harvard. In this episode of The Annex, host Matteo Wong traces connections between Radcliffe’s origins and the present-day controversy over the rebranding of the “Harvard Radcliffe Institute.”

Episode 2: The Non-merger Merger

In 2020, Harvard University rebranded the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study as the “Harvard Radcliffe Institute” — a change which many saw as the latest incident in a centuries-long history of the men-dominated University subordinating the legacy of Radcliffe College, the long-time women’s college at Harvard. Radcliffe College started as a small institute labeled “The Harvard Annex,” and many fear it, and the status of women at the University, has been returned to the status of an appendage.

The Annex is a podcast from Fifteen Minutes, The Harvard Crimson’s magazine, exploring why so often the histories of higher education appear “womanless,” and that of Harvard appears “Radcliffe-less.” With dozens of interviews with alumnae, professors, and more, and covering over 100 years of women’s struggles at, for, and against the University, host Matteo Wong asks: Who has the power to write Harvard’s history, and how is that changing?