Barbara Henson came to work at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Coolidge Hall on June 1st, 1967. The Six Day war had just broken out. She 'knew nothing about the war', but she remembers her first day vividly: 'I was shown to an office, given a set of keys and a desk, and told to "sit there until we give you something to do".' She describes what followed as her 'baptism' into life at the Center. Derwood Lockard, the Associate Director, was an anthropologist with a love of Persia: among his favorite possessions were a swimming pool lined with Persian tiles, and a collection of antique Persian hunting whips displayed on his desk at Coolidge Hall. To summon the new secretary to his office, Lockard cracked a whip on his desk and shouted "Barbara Henson!" Barbara was required to take dictation, and for an hour she struggled to record Middle Eastern names in shorthand. She stumbled out of Lockard's office in dismay, and wailed to the Administrative Assistant, Brenda Sens, 'I won't be able to stay!' Brenda helped her transliterate the shorthand sounds into the correct names, and Lockard was very pleased with the result. Barbara stayed at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies for the next thirty-eight years.

Barbara's memories evoke a bygone age of academia. A note of Luddism in her voice, she laments the passing of letter writing, the fountain pen and personal interaction: there is no tangible record of communication any more, because 'voicemail and e-mail have taken their place'. Above all, the days of the great eccentrics and their hunting whips, and cozy chats over the weekly Sherry Hour, are gone. However, Barbara's perspective on technological and institutional changes, faculty and students, and the Center's presence at Harvard University not only allows us fascinating glimpses of the past, it is also highly relevant to the present life of the Center.

Before she came to the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Barbara had worked in banks, with telephone companies, and had modeled furs; this was her 'first experience of academia'. Harvard had placed an advertisement for secretarial staff in The Boston Globe. Barbara responded to the advertisement, and went to Harvard Human Resources where she was shown a list of vacancies. "I liked the sound of working for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, it sounded so exotic.' A week later she hadn't heard about the position, so she called up and was instructed to 'come along if you want to'. She started on a salary of $5000 per annum. At that time, her only exposure to the Middle East was 'pure Hollywood': as she puts it, 'Tony Curtis in "Son of Ali Baba"'. Asked whether she feels more familiar with Middle Eastern subjects after thirty-eight years at the Center, Barbara replies, 'my philosophy is never to discuss politics or religion while working. I have a job to do.' She has seen people come and go at the Center full of outspoken ideas, and peace solutions, but 'I prefer to just listen'.

Until 2002, Coolidge Hall housed CMES and the Russian and East Asian Centers. There was lively and spontaneous exchange between the Centers; faculty and staff were invited to each other's events, and shared some expenses and office equipment. From 1967 to the mid-70s, staff would eat lunch in a common dining room, presided over by a remarkable Southern woman, Curlie Mae Black, who worked in the kitchen well into her eighties, preparing delicious lunches for only 99 cents. After the closure of the lunchroom, interactions changed, and a period of building work and renovations at Coolidge Hall forced Professors back to their departments. Perceiving the importance of shared public spaces and interaction between institutions– both to staff and to scholarship - Barbara has found the Center's three years at College House 'very isolating', and worries about the separation of Middle Eastern Studies from the Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS). 'It will be important for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies to interact and to use the CGIS facilities.'

Barbara never imagined that she would remain at the Center for thirty-eight years. She explains that 'no-one wanted to leave, everyone was so nice'. Originally the Center had a small population of some thirty professors, students and staff. There was a convivial atmosphere; staff and faculty celebrated birthdays and held parties. In the days 'before political correctness,' Barbara, the only Bostonian, was teased for her local accent, and male professors affectionately called Barbara and her colleagues by nicknames: "les girls" (Derwood Lockard) and "the troops" (Dennis Skiotis). (Barbara notes that only one secretary, Caroline, was bold enough to call professors by their first name.) Barbara's long tenure at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies is a testament to the positive work environment at Harvard, and specifically at the Center. She recalls that the Center was supportive of her decision to attend night school in 1967. Intimidated by Harvard, she followed her husband to Northeastern University – which had 'more of a working man's touch about it' – where she earned an Associate in Science, awarded in 1973, and a Bachelor of Science, with Honor in 1977. She remains grateful that her colleagues at the Center were very encouraging, and that during the day, if the office was quiet, she was allowed to work on papers and finish assignments. Many years later, when computers were introduced, Barbara almost left her job. 'I was very resistant to the change. But Bill Graham [the director] had faith in me'. She was encouraged to stay and to take computer classes. When Harvard University recognized her for twenty-five years of service, Center Director Bill Graham accompanied Barbara and her husband to the ceremony.

Barbara looks forward to an active retirement. She plans to devote more time to her love of music, dance, and the arts, and to do some volunteer work. Other projects include her home, three cats, and assisting her husband in his work as an attorney.

It is appropriate to let an old colleague, Dean Graham, have the last word on Barbara for us all: "Barbara has been for nearly four decades, for most of us who have been students, faculty, or staff at CMES, the "golden thread" of continuity at Coolidge Hall (and even in the square the past two years). I have had the good fortune to encounter and work with her as student, faculty member, and center director, and at all times her constant good humor, good will, and incredible knowledge of everybody and everything in the University were evident and immensely important to the life and work of CMES as well as to me personally".

Hannah-Louise Clark (AM '05), is Project, Event and Technology Assistant at CMES.