Harvard University

Harvard University,

mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college.

Harvard College

Harvard College, originally for men, was founded in 1636 with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1638 it was named for John HarvardHarvard, John,
1607–38, English minister in America and first major benefactor of Harvard College, b. Southwark, England, M.A. Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1635. He immigrated in 1637 to Charlestown, Mass.
..... Click the link for more information. , its first benefactor. During the 1640s the college expanded despite inadequate finances, and in 1650 it was incorporated and chartered by the General Court. Intended to be an institution for the education of Puritan ministers, it grew to be an institution of general education, and new and more liberal subjects and policies were introduced.

In the 18th cent., particularly under John Leverett (1708–24), enrollment and campus facilities increased and the religious attachment to Congregationalism declined. Systematic theological instruction was inaugurated in 1721 with the establishment of a professorship of divinity, and by 1827, with the opening of Divinity Hall, Harvard became a nucleus of theological teaching in New England. In its early years the college was largely supported by the colony and the New England community as a whole, but support soon came in the form of gifts, and in 1823 the last state grant was received. Under Charles W. EliotEliot, Charles William,
1834–1926, American educator and president of Harvard, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1853. In 1854 he was appointed tutor in mathematics at Harvard and in 1858 became assistant professor of mathematics and chemistry.
..... Click the link for more information. , the college became a great modern university. Its physical plant and curriculum were expanded, the graduate school was established, and the law and medical schools were reorganized. Eliot is also noted for his introduction of the elective system at Harvard.

Radcliffe, Graduate Schools, and Other Facilities

From two distinct schools, Radcliffe College for women (est. 1879, chartered 1894) and Harvard evolved in the 1970s into coordinate colleges with shared facilities and professors; all degrees were granted by Harvard. In 1999, Radcliffe officially merged with Harvard College, which became a coeducational undergraduate institution. At the same time the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard was established. The university also has graduate schools of divinity (1816), law (1817), arts and sciences (1872), education (1920), business (1908), and design (1936). Harvard also has schools of medicine (1782), public health (1922), and dental medicine (1941). The school of public administration (1936) was reorganized as the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1966.

Harvard's original library was founded in 1638 with a bequest of 400 books from John HarvardHarvard, John,
1607–38, English minister in America and first major benefactor of Harvard College, b. Southwark, England, M.A. Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1635. He immigrated in 1637 to Charlestown, Mass.
..... Click the link for more information. . By the early 21st cent., the university had more than 80 libraries with numerous special divisions. Its main branch is the Harry E. Widener Memorial Library (1915). The largest university collection in the world, the libraries house more than 15 million volumes as well as papers, manuscripts, incunabulaincunabula
, plural of incunabulum
[Late Lat.,=cradle (books); i.e., books of the cradle days of printing], books printed in the 15th cent. The known incunabula represent about 40,000 editions.
..... Click the link for more information. , prints, digital resources, and other materials. Among the university's many museums are the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Fogg, Sackler, and Busch-Reisinger museums of art. The latter three museums were united as the Harvard Art Museums, now housed in the shell of the former Fogg Museum with a new glass-filled interior designed by Renzo PianoPiano, Renzo
, 1937–, Italian architect, b. Genoa. Piano attended architecture school at Milan Polytechnic, graduating in 1964. The prolific Piano has been lauded for responding to the needs of each building site rather than cleaving to a single architectural style and has
..... Click the link for more information. , which opened in 2014. Harvard is closely associated with numerous research facilities, including the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard Forest, a center for Byzantine studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., and a center for Italian renaissance studies at Villa I Tatti in Florence, Italy.

Bibliography

See histories by S. E. Morison (1936) and E. J. Kahn (1969).

Harvard University

the oldest university in the USA. Founded in 1636 as a college, since 1639 it has had the name of J. Harvard (1607-38), an English minister and bachelor of arts who emigrated to America and willed half of his property and his library to the college. Harvard is located in the city of Cambridge near Boston, Mass.

Until the end of the 18th century the curriculum consisted mainly of the Bible and classical languages. At the end of the 18th century modern languages and mathematics were introduced. As late as the early 19th century the college was essentially a privileged high school, which usually accepted 14-year-old students. Its curriculum was compulsory for all students. Harvard actually became a university in the first quarter of the 19th century, when a medical school (founded in 1810) and a law school (founded in 1817) were annexed to the college. The program was expanded to include the study of history, political economy, chemistry, geology, and other subjects. Since the second quarter of the 19th century Harvard University has been a center of cultural life in the northeastern USA. Many eminent scholars have taught there, including the poet and literary critic H. Longfellow. C. Eliot, an American educator, played an important role in the development of Harvard University and served as its president from 1869 to 1909.

In the academic year 1969-70 in addition to the general undergraduate college, the university included many other schools—humanities and natural sciences, law, medicine, public health, theology, design, public administration, business administration, education, and applied physics and engineering. It also included the schools of arts and sciences, of dentistry, and so forth. The university has an astronomical observatory and houses several museums, including those of comparative zoology, art, Germanic cultures, and geology. In the academic year 1967-68 more than 15,000 students were enrolled at Harvard University, with a teaching staff of 4,902. The Harvard Library (founded in 1638) includes about 8 million books and pamphlets. In addition to the central collection, there are separate libraries of rare books and manuscripts, medicine, and Chinese and Japanese studies.

Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University,

Harvard College

Radcliffe, Graduate Schools, and Other Facilities

Bibliography

Harvard University

Harvard University

Synonyms for Harvard University

noun a university in Massachusetts

Synonyms

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