oldest institution of higher education in the United States
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'''HARVARD UNIVERSITY'''. The oldest
institution of higher education in the United States,
situated at Cambridge, Mass. It had its {{hws|incep|inception}}
{{hwe|tion|inception}} in a desire of the early settlers of the Colony
of Massachusetts Bay to preserve and perpetuate
in their new home the classical and
theological learning acquired by many of them at
the University of Cambridge, and to educate the
“English and Indian youth in knowledge and
godliness.” To this end the General Court of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony voted £400 in 1636,
and in the following year appointed twelve
eminent men of the Colony, including Governor John
Winthrop, “to take order for a college at
New-Towne,” which was afterwards renamed
Cambridge, in honor of Cambridge University. While
the organization of the institution was in progress,
Rev. John Harvard, an English non-conforming
clergyman, died in 1638, bequeathing to the
new school his library, consisting of 200 volumes,
together with half of his estate, valued at about
£400. In recognition of this gift{{—}}munificent in
those days{{—}}the new school was named Harvard
College. The Colonial magistrates and many
private persons, emulating Harvard's generosity,
also contributed books, funds, and gifts in kind.
The first building was erected in 1637 by
Nathaniel Eaton, who also taught until 1639, when
he was dismissed for misconduct. The Rev.
Henry Dunster was elected president in 1640, and
in 1642 the first class, consisting of nine students,
was graduated. The government of the college
was the same year vested in a board of overseers,
consisting of the Governor, the Deputy Governor,
the magistrates, the teaching elders of the “six
next adjoining towns” (Cambridge, Watertown,
Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester),
and the president of the college. In 1650 the
college was formed into a corporation, consisting
of the president, five fellows, and the treasurer,
for the immediate administration of the financial
and educational affairs of the institution, and in
1657 the charter of the corporation was so
amended as to dispense with the positive assent
of the overseers in matters relating to the
internal management of the college, leaving,
however, final jurisdiction to that body if necessary.
These two governing bodies acted as checks upon
each other throughout the earlier history of
Harvard, and though at times their antagonism was
productive of some good, restraining the too rapid
advances proposed by the liberal corporation on
the one hand, and preventing the overseers from
using the college for partisan purposes, yet the
progress of the college was much retarded by
these controversies. The character of the board
of overseers has been fundamentally changed by
successive legislative acts, concurred in by the
corporation and overseers. According to the
State Constitution of 1780 it was composed of
the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Council and
Senate of the Commonwealth, the president of the
college, and the ministers of the Congregational
churches of the towns mentioned above. In 1810
fifteen laymen and fifteen Congregational ministers,
with the president of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House, all inhabitants of the
State, were substituted in place of the Senate
and the ministers of the six towns. In 1814 the
members of the Senate were restored to
membership; the act of 1834 made clergymen of
all denominations eligible for membership on
the board; but it was not ratified by the
corporation and overseers until 1843; the act of
1851 secularized the board by containing no
reference to clergymen; the act of 1865 {{hws|trans|transferred}}
{{hwe|ferred|transferred}} the election of members of the board from
the State Legislature to persons holding the B.A.,
M.A., and honorary degrees from the college, who
were to vote on commencement day at
Cambridge; in 1880 eligibility to election as overseer
was extended to non-residents of the State.
Nominations are made by postal ballot, while the
election is held in Cambridge on commencement
day. Thus Harvard was successively freed from
Church, State, and sectional control.
The administrations of Presidents Dunster,
Chauncy, Hoar, and Mather, covering a period of
nearly seventy years, were characterized by a
constant struggle for existence on the part of
the college, due to the parsimony of the government,
and to the religious controversies of the
liberals and orthodox. Rev. Increase Mather,
who was president of the college for fifteen years,
actually secured, in 1692, the passage of an act
granting a new charter, placing the institution
under control of the Calvinists, but the royal
sanction to the instrument was withheld. In 1707
the struggle for the control of the college
culminated in the confirmation of the charter of
1650, the liberals gaining control of the corporation,
while the orthodox retained their influence
in the board of overseers. In 1721 Thomas
Hollis, an English merchant, endowed a divinity
chair, expressly stipulating that the incumbent
should not be subjected to any particular
religious tests. The overseers at first refused to
accept the gift; and when, at the instance of the
corporation, they finally did accept it, the founder's
wishes were disregarded by the exaction of
a number of confessions from the first appointee.
In 1762 an attempt was made by the orthodox
party to establish a rival college in the Colony,
but this was stoutly resisted by the overseers,
and they succeeded in dissuading Governor
Bernard from granting a charter. Fire destroyed,
in 1764, the first Harvard Hall, containing the
library and apparatus. The greatest loss was the
founder's library, one book being rescued out of
his entire collection. Sympathy for the college
was awakened throughout the Colonies, which
generously aided to repair the loss.
The liberal tendencies of Harvard manifested
themselves on the political as well as on the
religious side. The class of 1768 voted to take
their degrees dressed in homespun, and the degree
of LL.D. was conferred upon George Washington
in 1776. Throughout the critical period of the
Revolution, Harvard loyally supported the
patriotic cause by converting its funds into
currency, whereby its finances greatly suffered. In
1780 the new State Constitution confirmed the
college charter with slight modifications, and by
1793 the college had partially recovered from its
financial difficulties, its funds being then estimated
at $182,000. The college after the close of the
Revolution assumed its normal growth; the standard
of scholarship was somewhat raised, and in 1782
a medical department was established. Under
President Kirkland's vigorous administration,
1810-28, the college grew considerably. At the
instance of Prof. George Ticknor, who had studied
at Göttingen, a committee, with Hon. Joseph
Story as chairman, was appointed to inquire into
the methods of discipline and instruction at the
college. The committee reported in 1824,
recommending the division of the college into departments
and the instituting of two classes of studies:
those necessary for a degree and those which
might be taken by students merely wishing “to
pursue particular studies to qualify them for
scientific and mechanical employment and the
active business of life.” These suggestions met
with strong opposition from the conservatives.
A new code of laws was nevertheless drawn up
the following year, organizing the ‘faculty of the
university,’ systematizing the college administration,
creating departments, and admitting
special students. This marks the transition period
of Harvard from a classical college modeled after
the traditions of Oxford and Cambridge to a
university based on the principles of European
universities. The attempt at expansion, which
involved an increase in expenditure, received a
temporary check when, in 1824, the Legislature
refused to renew the grant of the bank tax, which
had netted the college, since 1814, about $10,000
annually. In 1825 the disbursements exceeded
the income by about $4000, and the attendance,
owing to the enforced economy and the
withdrawal of aid from needy students, decreased
from over 300 in 1824, to about 200. Nevertheless,
the policy of expansion was continued under President
Josiah Quincy, private benefactions, as
usual, supplying the want of State aid. The law
department, which had been established in 1817,
was greatly strengthened by Mr. Nathan Dane's
endowment of an additional chair, to which
Joseph Story, whose works on equity and
constitutional law form such an important part
of the legal literature of this country, was
appointed. In the modern-language department
Professor Ticknor and his successor, Henry W.
Longfellow, successfully offered a number of
elective courses, but in other departments the
attempt gradually to introduce electives did not
meet with equal success. It has always been
Harvard's tendency to encourage freedom of
thought, and on that account it was formerly
considered the nursery of Unitarians. The
Harvard authorities, however, were timorous, and
although some of the leading thinkers of that
sect in the United States, as, for example, Emerson
and Channing, were graduates of the college,
yet when the former addressed the divinity
students in 1838, exception was taken to some of
his remarks as being too liberal. Harvard's
attitude toward the slave question was decidedly
conservative. Charles Sumner and Wendell Phillips,
leading advocates of the abolition movement,
had, however, been educated at the college, and
when the final call to arms was issued, its sons
were among the first to respond. To the memory
of those who fell in the Civil War, Memorial
Hall, one of the finest buildings of the university,
and erected by the alumni at a cost of over $300,000,
was fittingly dedicated in 1874. The
administrations following President Quincy's
resignation in 1845 were distinguished for their
conservatism. The only notable additions to the
university during that period were the Lawrence
Scientific School and the Dental School. The
struggle between the humanities and sciences,
the rigid curriculum and the more liberal elective
system, was about to come on in earnest,
and Harvard's position in the educational world
was largely decided when the great organizer
and educational reformer Charles William Eliot
was elected in 1869 as its president.
At the beginning of President Eliot's
administration Harvard consisted of the college,
wherein the courses were largely required, and a
number of semi-independent professional schools,
having no entrance requirements or correlation
of studies. The total attendance, which was
largely from New England, was, in 1869-70, 1107,
including 615 college students and 13 graduates.
The resident faculty numbered 78, including
Lowell, Holmes, Agassiz, and Gray. The elective
question was as yet in a chrysalid state, and the
few elective courses offered were still in ill repute
and not considered as on a par with required
work. The funds of the university aggregated
$2,257,989.80, and the income $270,404.63. The
total value of university property was estimated
at about $10,000,000. The library contained
about 192,000 volumes. President Eliot
reorganized and consolidated the several schools, and
in 1903 Harvard University comprised eleven
correlated departments as follows: (1) Harvard
College, the Lawrence Scientific School,
established in 1847, and which grew slowly until 1885,
and the Graduate School, organized in 1872 for
students pursuing original research. These have,
since 1890, been under the immediate charge of
the Facility of Arts and Sciences, and include
fourteen departments, offering elective courses in
the sciences, mechanical and fine arts, and
humanities, which lead to the degrees of B.A., B.S.,
M.A., M.S., Ph.D., and S.D. In 1902-03 the
attendance in the college was 2109; in the Scientific
School, 584; and in the Graduate School,
316. In addition to the regular courses offered
by the faculty, persons holding the Ph.D. or S.D.
degree are authorized to give courses either
gratuitously or at a stipulated fee, in the same
manner as the docents at the German universities.
Evening readings, lectures, and concerts,
including those of the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
have become a permanent feature at the
university. For graduates engaged in original
research, 41 fellowships, yielding from $300 to
$1000, are available. There are also 205 scholarships
open to all students under this faculty,
besides several special funds for the assistance of
needy students. (2) The Law School, established
in 1817, and reorganized in 1872 by Professor
Langdell, who first introduced the inductive or
case method, confers the LL.B. degree, and had, in
1903, an attendance of 640. (3) The Medical
School, established in 1782, and the Dental
School, founded in 1867, united since 1899 under
the faculty of medicine, and located at Boston.
They confer the M.D. and D.D.S. degrees, and
had, in 1903, an attendance of 445 and 112,
respectively. (4) The Divinity School, formally
organized in 1819, is non-sectarian, and confers
the degree of S.T.B. Under certain specific
conditions, its students may also earn the M.A. and
Ph.D. on recommendation of the faculty of arts
and sciences. Its attendance is small. (5) The
Bussey Institution, a scientific school of
agriculture and horticulture, the only school to which
there are no formal entrance requirements, was
organized in 1871, and is situated at Jamaica
Plain, about five miles from Boston. It confers
the degree of Bachelor of Agricultural Science.
(6) The Arnold Arboretum was founded in 1872
under the will of James Arnold, for scientific
research in arboriculture, forestry, and dendrology,
and has a museum for Massachusetts trees and
shrubs. It occupies about 220 acres in West
Roxbury. (7) The University Library, including
the separate libraries of the several schools and
departments, aggregates 576,900 volumes and 250,000
pamphlets, the largest collection being at
Gore Hall, which contains 387,100 volumes. (8)
The University Museum, situated at a short
distance from the main buildings, consists (a) of
the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, founded in
1859 by private subscription and by the State,
and greatly enriched by the collections of Prof.
Louis Agassiz and the gifts of his son; (b) the
Peabody Museum of American Archæology and
Ethnology; (c) the Botanical Museum; and
(d) the mineralogical and geological sections.
The Semitic, the Fogg Art, and the Germanic
Museums are each located in separate buildings.
(9) The Botanic Garden, founded in 1807,
occupies about seven acres, on which are cultivated
about 5000 species for scientific
purposes. (10) The Gray Herbarium includes
the famous collection of Prof. Asa Gray,
presented to the university in 1864. (11) The
Astronomical Observatory, established in 1843,
maintains a station near Arequipa, Peru, and a
series of meteorological stations crossing the
Andes at elevations varying from 100 to 19,200
feet.
In 1879 the solution of the question of higher
education for women was partially begun by
Harvard professors and instructors, with the
organization of the Society for the Collegiate
Instruction for Women. In 1894 the name of
the society was changed by the General Court of
Massachusetts to [[../Radcliffe College/]] (q.v.), and
permission was given it to confer the ordinary
collegiate degrees subject to the approval of a
board of visitors, composed of the president and
fellows of Harvard College, under whose direction
and control Radcliffe was then placed. Its
immediate government is in charge of a council
and an academic board, of which bodies the
president and dean of Harvard College are
members. Instruction is given mainly by the faculty
of Harvard College, and sixteen scholarships are
available for worthy students. Its attendance is
approximately 450. The government of Harvard
University is vested in (1) a board of overseers,
of which the president and treasurer are
members ex-officio, and five of whom are elected
annually for a term of six years; (2) the corporation,
composed of the president, treasurer, and
five fellows{{—}}a self-perpetuating body, having
charge of the management of the material and
educational interests of the university; (3) the
university council, composed of the members of
the several faculties, with jurisdiction on
educational questions that concern more than one
faculty; and (4) the faculties of the several schools.
Students under any of the faculties may register
in any course in the university, a provision
which tends to bind more closely the interests
of the several schools. The entrance requirements
were gradually raised, until 1890, when the
limit was practically reached; and sciences and
modern languages are now accepted at the college
in lieu of one ancient language. These changes
have had a very wholesome effect in forcing
preparatory schools in turn to raise and broaden
the standard of their courses of study. The
professional schools, with the exception of the Dental
School, now require matriculants to hold a
collegiate degree. The question of shortening the
college course has not been definitely settled.
Industrious students may, however, so arrange their
work as to complete the college course in three
years.
The university maintains a summer school
under the faculties of arts and sciences, theology,
and medicine, with courses designed mainly for
teachers. In the summer of 1902, 945 students
were enrolled. The schools issue a number of
important publications, partly independent journals
and partly stated reports in scientific
periodicals. Important work is done by
students in clubs connected with the various
departments. Athletic sports are regulated
by a committee representing the faculty,
the graduates, and undergraduates. Physical
training is provided by the Hemmenway
Gymnasium, built in 1878, and by two athletic fields,
containing twenty-four acres. The Harvard
Union, an elaborate students' clubhouse, the gift
of Henry Lee Higginson, was opened in 1901. In
1880 attendance at chapel was made voluntary,
and, contrary to expectations, the religious side
of the university has not suffered thereby. Five
eminent preachers are annually appointed, without
regard to sect, to conduct daily services at
the chapel, and seats also are provided for
students at the local churches at the expense of
the university. Religious societies find ample
accommodations for their meetings at the Phillips
Brooks House. The grand total attendance of
the university in 1903 was 5206, with a faculty
numbering 534. The university property, in
1902, was estimated at $20,914,541, and consisted
of grounds and buildings valued at $5,300,000,
scientific apparatus, etc., valued at $1,500,000,
and productive funds of $14,114,541. The income,
exclusive of gifts and bequests to the amount of
$1,095,737, was $1,430,292.
The publications of the university, issued
officially or indirectly, are: ''Harvard Oriental''
''Series''; ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'';
''Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature'';
''Harvard Historical Studies''; ''Quarterly Journal''
''of Economics''; ''Harvard Law Review''; ''Annals of''
''the Observatory of Harvard College''; ''Annals of''
''Mathematics, New Series''; ''Contributions from the''
''Cryptogamic Laboratory''; ''Publications of the''
''Museum of Comparative Zoölogy''; ''Contributions''
''from the Zoölogical Laboratory''; ''Publications of''
''the Peabody Museum of Archæology and''
''Ethnology''; ''The Harvard Graduates' Magazine''.
The presidents of Harvard since its inception
have been: Henry Dunster, 1640-54; Charles
Chauncy, 1654-72; Leonard Hoar, 1672-75; Urian
Oakes, 1675-81; John Rogers, 1682-84; Increase
Mather, 1685-1701; Samuel Willard, 1700-07;
John Leverett, 1708-24; Benjamine Wadsworth,
1725-37; Edward Holyoke, 1737-69; Samuel
Locke, 1770-73; Samuel Langdon, 1774-80;
Joseph Willard, 1781-1804; Samuel Webber,
1806-10; John Thornton Kirkland, 1810-28;
Josiah Quincy, 1829-45; Edward Everett, 1846-49;
Jared Sparks, 1849-53; James Walker, 1853-60;
Cornelius Conway Felton, 1860-62; Thomas
Hill, 1862-68; Charles William Eliot, 1869—.
Consult: Pierce, ''History of Harvard University,''
''1636-1766'' (1833); Quincy, ''The History of''
''Harvard University'' (1840); Eliot, ''A Sketch of the''
''History of Harvard University'' (1848); Thayer,
“Historical Sketch of Harvard University,” in
the ''History of Middlesex County'' (1890); Hill,
''Harvard College by an Oxonian'' (1895); ''Annual''
''Report of the President and Treasurer of'' {{hws|''Har''|''Harvard''}}
{{hwe|''vard''|''Harvard''}} ''College''; and ''The Harvard University''
''Catalogue''.