34,000 Pages and Counting
Class Notes Editor Keith Larson has read them all
Larson
Photo by Susan Young
Why do we almost universally regard our college years as among the best of our lives? Pause for a moment to give that some thought. Here’s a hint: The correct answer is not sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll.
When Bill McKibben, writer, environmentalist, and intellectual provocateur, posed that question at a conference for alumni magazine editors in late March, I instinctively reached for my pen, hoping his answer would help explain why HBS alumni write such a torrent of class notes — edited down to nearly 2,000 pages a year.
For McKibben, our enduring nostalgia for campus life lies in the fleeting sense of community created by the experience. Upon graduation, he continued, we miss the togetherness of our campus years. “It’s the togetherness that people thrive on,” he said, providing the answer I was looking for. For HBS alumni, one way to preserve and extend that sense of community is Class Notes.
Divided into three chronological versions whose total quarterly page count is equal to an issue of Vogue, Class Notes require not only editing skill but a sense of humor, diplomacy, and grace under deadline pressure. Editor Keith Larson (right) has brought all of these attributes to the task since 1983.
By his own rough reckoning, 34,000 printed pages of Class Notes have passed through his hands over 24 years. During that time, the number of Class Notes secretaries — recipients of Keith’s timely deadline reminders — has grown to 850 from around 500. Probably no one in HBS External Relations has had direct contact with more alumni — or read more birth announcements and vacation travelogues.
Over the years, the Class Notes production process has evolved from handwritten and typed notes to Web submissions. “Back in the 1980s,” recalls Keith, “we’d send a thousand pages of edited copy to the printer in South Carolina, who would keyboard all the pages twice and then compare the two copies of the page as a crude way of proofing!” Fortunately, computers have rendered that tedious process obsolete. But it still takes three copy editors and a production coordinator to assist Keith with each issue.
When Keith started at HBS, he was looking for a paycheck, not a career. He needed a job while finishing his dissertation. A piano major at Oberlin Conservatory, Keith earned a Ph.D. in musicology from Harvard in 1985, writing his dissertation on the 16th- and 17th- century Neapolitan madrigal — love poetry set to music for four to six singers.
More recently, Keith has channeled his scholarly inclinations into research for a book about the Royal Winton/Grimwades pottery firm and its products. Along the way, he’s built a staggering collection of objects — plates, vases, cups and saucers, mugs, figurines, and the like — filling his office and his home. “It’s not a hobby, it’s an obsession,” he admits.
After nearly a quarter-century as Class Notes editor, nobody is more steeped in the enduring spirit of the HBS community than Keith. Next time you open your Bulletin Class Notes to catch up on old friends, pause for moment to consider the editor who makes it all happen.
