The Crimson Quills Tour: The Literary History of Harvard Square

Have you ever stood somewhere and realized: “This is where an author from the past stood — someone who wrote something that’s impacted me today?”

That’s the experience of the Crimson Quills tour. As we walk the streets of Harvard Square where writers from the past lived, gathered, and wrote, you’ll see that the past and present really do carry on in parallel.

From America’s first printing press and published woman, to Nobel laureates and pioneer poets, discover the writers who lived, studied, and wrote in Harvard Square and how they shaped literary history.

Throughout the tour, we’ll read work by the authors we encounter, including Anne Bradstreet, Margaret Fuller, Harriet Jacobs, and more.

You’ll walk away with a greater understanding of Harvard Square’s literary history, as well as the experience of being in the same place where some of America’s greatest authors once stood.