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OF FICIAL GUIDE EIARVARD UNIVERSITY EDITED B Y THE HARVARD MEMORIAL SOCIETY CAMBRIDGE " lbubl is b e b by the ( univ ersity 1 9 0 7 LIBRARYof OONME M 00pm Recesvea DEC 3 1 ( 90? uuw u gm m a y 2 6 N7 7o. GLASS A Me. fia 5 1 5 ? c o p v a H T 1 0 C OPY RIG , 9 7 BY H‘ A R VA R D U N IV E R SITY PR E FATORY N OTE T HE first edition of thisGu ide was prepared and p u b . lishe d for the m eeting of the A m e rl c a n Association for of C the Advancement Science in ambridge , in August , 1 8 8 . 9 It was edited by Mr Byron Satterlee Hurlbut , M A . ( H . U . Secretary of the Fac u lty of Arts and Sciences . n e w The next year a edition , enlarged and with addi tio na l . illustrations , was prepared by Mr William Garrott A . M . Brown , . ( H . U Deputy Keeper of the Uni versity Archives , and was issued , with the permission of ’ o f II a rv a rd the President and Fellows College , by the e Harvard Memorial Society . The obj ct of this Society , “ u 1 8 9 5 o which was fo nded in , is to foster am ng students interest in the historical associations of Harvard and to ” perpetuate the traditions of her past , and to it has been appropriately co m mitted the revision of this Guide and the preparation of successive editions . 1 9 03 . A new edition was issued in , prepared by Mr w V Brown ith the assistance of Mr . Albert . de Roode , 1 9 04 L of the Class of , and Mr . Charles Greely oring , 1 0 3 of the Class of 9 . iv The present edition has been revised by Mr . Nathaniel IVill ia m L . Jr . C Nash , , and by Mr eavitt Stoddard , both of the Class o f 1 9 0 7 Secretary and Treasurer re spectively of th e Mem orial Society . The Memorial Society is under obligations to m a ny person s for assistance rendered in the preparati o n of — f fi the Guide , especially to the o cers of the University who have written or revised the accounts of their several departments . L WILLIAM COOLIDGE ANE , Pr e si d en t of th e Ha r v a r d Mem o ri a l S o c i e ty. CAMBRIDGE , A u u st 1 9 0 . g , 7 IN TRODUCTION THE UNIVERSITY A R VARD UNIVERSITY is an institution o f l earn ing established under the la w s of Massachusetts . It is made up of seventeen departme nts beside a number e of museums , laboratories , and other establishm nts not u n sually re cko ned as separate departme ts . It occupies a n total area of more tha 500 acres . Most of the buildings n the are in Cambridge and Bosto . The quick capital of t 3 1 1 9 0 6 Universi y July , , was The valu e of the lands and buildings devoted to e ducatio n and the ad v ancement of learnin g was estimated at about l e twelve million dol ars . The enrolm nt of students in all 1 9 0 6—0 7 m departments in , including the Su mer S chool of 1 9 0 6 ffi , was The o cers of instruction and admin i stra tio n 64 1 numbered . FOUNDATION o 1 780 The title of University dates nly from the year , when the Massachu setts Constitution of that year referred “ ” d . 1 783 to the University at Cambri ge Until , when u n t medical lect res were first given , the i s itution was properly called Harvard College . in 1 63 6 2 . 1 63 6 Harvard College was founded Oct , u ( Old Style ) , the General Co rt , as the legislature of 2 Massachusetts Bay was called , passed the following vote ° “ The Court agree to give four H u ndred Pounds S cho o l o r Co ll e e towards a g , whereof two Hundred b e n Pounds shall paid the ext year , and Two Hundred Pounds when the work is finished , and the next Court n to appoint where and what buildi g . n V The governor who approved this vote was He ry ane , a s Va e afterwards , Sir Henry ne , much distinguish d in n English history . The ext year the Court voted that the tt College should be at Newtowne , and commi ed the work n e to twelve eminent men of the colony , amo g th m John V n e Winthrop , who preceded and succeeded a e as gov rnor , he h e o . t t and John C tton The same year , name of town was changed to Cambridge , in honor of the English university where a number of the Colon ists had been 6 . 1 3 8 educated In , John Harvard , a n onconformist clergyman who had been in the colony about a year , 260 o e dying at Charlestown , left his library of v lum s h t e . o and half his fortune , to infant college In his hon r h . 1 640 t e it was called Harvard College In the year , n e u n u u t e . first Preside t , H nry D nster , e tered pon his d i s e Two years lat r , the first class , numbering nine , was graduated . CONSTITUTION e The institution was thus founded , plac d , and named . e e m Its constitution has been changed s v ral ti es , but two u acts of the colonial legislat re , each establishing a gov erning board , have determined the general character of u its government througho t its subsequent history . 1 642 The first of these was passed in , and established s 1 650 a the Board of Over eers ; the second in , and est b 3 l ishe d a board officially styled the President and Fellows a of Harv rd College , but always more commonly known ” “ r as The Co poration . These two boards govern the entire University . The Board o f Overs e e rs was at first made u p of the o Governor , the Deputy Govern r , and the Magistrates of “ t the Colony , together wi h the teaching elders of the six — next adjoining towns , viz . , Cambridge , Watertown , ” t D o rc li e s te r Charles own , Boston , Roxbury , and , and the e It c President of the Coll ge . ne essarily included all the most prominent and p o werful m e n of the P u ritan com m o n w e a lth e v e , and the Coll ge go rnment was therefore nm t very like the gover en of Massachusetts Bay . But this body was soon found to be too large for the im m e di o f l 1 650 e ate direction the schoo , and in the G neral Court dre w u p an instru m ent of great inte rest which now hangs ’ m in the Librarian s roo in Gore Hall . This document is “ the Charter of Harvard College . It is the veritable ” u a - so rce of collegi te authority to day , and the corpora b i u tion it esta l shed is the oldest in the co ntry . The charter committe d the property and the govern to d ment of the College seven persons a Presi ent , a e Treasurer , and five Fellows , who were empow red to fill i i n m vacanc es their nu ber . They were to elect the teach ers and other officers , and to make all laws and orders , e rm n v subj ct only to confi atio by the O erseers . The records of the President a nd Fello ws, preserved in the archives of the University,are fairly continuous and com l e te e h i p . They rev al wit what pat ence and wisdom , for n r n two ce turies and a half , the p operty of the i stitution a nd has been guarded , its activities expanded , its high e e i t aims adher d to . The r s pons bili y of the Corporation 4 to the Overseers was somewhat lessened in 1 657 by an a f ppendix to the charter , to the ef ect that the acts of “ ” the smaller body should always have immediate force , ” a lthough they should still be alterable by the Over s eers . the 1 684 In year , the colonial charter of Massachusetts Bay was revoked , and it was generally held at the time that the College charte r was vacated by this act of the w . cro n In consequence , the government of the College 1 69 1 was for years unsettled . In , a province charter e was giv n to Massachusetts Bay , and the next year the b u t General Court passed a new College charter , it was disallo w e d by the home government bec ause it did n o t n g ive the King the right to appoi t visitors . No less than three other charters passed the General Court , the 1 70 0 t m last in , but none of he ever was confirmed in n 1 e .