Harvard Business School was incorporated in 1908 and placed within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the University. Classes were held throughout the Cambridge campus and the School did not become an independent entity until 1913. The push to build a separate campus started in 1924. With the support of New York banker George F. Baker and the guidance of HBS Dean Wallace B. Donham, construction of the neo-Georgian campus, designed by McKim, Mead & White and located on the banks of the Charles River, was completed in 1927. You can learn more about the early years of the HBS campus on the Concrete Symbol exhibition website. The School’s first decades are well-documented in Jeffrey Cruikshank’s book A Delicate Experiment: The Harvard Business School, 1908-1945.

The HBS website A Campus Built on Philanthropy includes histories and photographs of individual campus buildings. The HBS Archives has a collection of Building and Grounds photographs. A selection of these images are available online through HOLLIS Images. Conduct an Advanced Search by Scope: Baker Business and Keywords "HBS Archives" and the building name, using quotation marks around both keywords. Please note that some full-size images are only available to the Harvard community.

School publications often contain information and articles about campus buildings. Many of these early publications can be searched online: the Deans Reports and the HBS Alumni Bulletin:  HBS Alumni Bulletin 1925-1941, HBS Alumni Bulletin 1941-1950, and HBS Alumni Bulletin 1951-2001.

Please Ask Us! or reach out to the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives Reference Staff directly at specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu if you have additional questions about the history of the campus, a specific building, or our collections or services.