Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, established in 1636.
Its history, influence and wealth have made it one of the most prestigious
universities in the world.
Established originally by the Massachusetts
legislature and soon thereafter
named for John Harvard (its first benefactor), Harvard is the United States' oldest institution of
higher learning, and the Harvard Corporation (formally, the President and Fellows of Harvard
College) is its first chartered corporation.
Although never formally affiliated with any denomination,
the early College primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student
body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, and by the 19th
century Harvard had emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites. Following the American Civil War, President Charles W. Eliot's long tenure (1869–1909)
transformed the college and affiliated professional schools into a modern research university; Harvard was a
founding member of the Association
of American Universities in 1900. James Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World
War II and began to reform the
curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college
became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College.
The University is organized into eleven separate academic units—ten faculties
and the Radcliffe Institute for
Advanced Study—with campuses throughout the Boston metropolitan area: its 209-acre (85 ha) main campus
is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, approximately 3 miles
(5 km) northwest of Boston;
the business school and athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located across
the Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston and the medical, dental, and health schools are in the Longwood Medical Area. Harvard has the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the
world, standing at $36.4 billion.
Harvard is a large, highly residential research university. The nominal
cost of attendance is high, but the University's large endowment allows it to
offer generous financial aid packages. It operates several arts, cultural, and
scientific museums, alongside the Harvard
Library, which is the world's largest academic and private library system,
comprising 79 individual libraries with over 18 million volumes. Harvard's alumni include eight U.S. presidents, several foreign
heads of state, 62 living billionaires,
335Rhodes Scholars, and 242 Scholars.
To date, some 150 Nobel laureates and 5
Fields Medalists (when awarded) have been affiliated as students, faculty, or
staff.
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References
- Harvard's Veritas appears on the university's arms; heraldically speaking, however, a 'motto' is a word or phrase displayed on a scroll in conjunction with a shield of arms. Since 1692 University seals have borne Christo et Ecclesiae (for Christ and the Church) in this manner, arguably making that phrase the university's motto in a heraldic sense. This legend is otherwise not in general use today.
- An appropriation of £400 toward a "school or college" was voted on October 28, 1636 (OS), at a meeting which convened on September 8 and was adjourned to October 28. Some sources consider October 28, 1636 (OS) (November 7, 1636 NS) to be the date of founding. Harvard's 1936 tercentenary celebration treated September 18 as the founding date, though 1836 bicentennial was celebrated on September 8, 1836. Sources: meeting dates, Quincy, Josiah (1860). History of Harvard University. 117 Washington Street, Boston: Crosby, Nichols, Lee and Co., p. 586
- "At a Court holden September 8th, 1636 and continued by adjournment to the 28th of the 8th month (October, 1636)... the Court agreed to give £400 towards a School or College, whereof £200 to be paid next year...." Tercentenary dates: "Cambridge Birthday" Time. September 28, 1936. Retrieved September 8, 2006.: "Harvard claims birth on the day the Massachusetts Great and General Court convened to authorize its founding. This was Sept. 8, 1637 under the Julian calendar. Allowing for the ten-day advance of the Gregorian calendar, Tercentenary officials arrived at Sept. 18 as the date for the third and last big Day of the celebration;" "on Oct. 28, 1636 ... £400 for that 'school or college' [was voted by] the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony." Bicentennial date: Marvin Hightower (September 2, 2003). "Harvard Gazette: This Month in Harvard History" Harvard University. Retrieved September 15, 2006., "Sept. 8, 1836 - Some 1,100 to 1,300 alumni flock to Harvard's Bicentennial, at which a professional choir premieres "Fair Harvard." ... guest speaker Josiah Quincy Jr., Class of 1821, makes a motion, unanimously adopted, 'that this assembly of the Alumni be adjourned to meet at this place on September 8, 1936.'" Tercentary opening of Quincy's sealed package: The New York Times, September 9, 1936, p. 24, "Package Sealed in 1836 Opened at Harvard. It Held Letters Written at Bicentenary": "September 8th, 1936: As the first formal function in the celebration of Harvard's tercentenary, the Harvard Alumni Association witnessed the opening by President Conant of the 'mysterious' package sealed by President Josiah Quincy at the Harvard bicentennial in 1836."
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