Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/665

* HABVABD UNIVEBSITY. 607 HARVARD UNIVERSITY. tion in a desire of the early settlers of the Colony of -Massaclmsetts Bay to preserve and perpetu- ate in their new home the classical and theo- logical learning accpiired by many of Iheni at the L'niversity uf Cambridge, and lo educate the "English and Indian youth in knowledge and godliness." To this end the General Court of the Jlassachusetts Bay Colony voted £400 in lU3t), and in the following year appointed twelve emi- nent men of the Colony, including tiovernor John W'inthrop, "to take order for a college at New- Towne,'' which vas afterwards renamed Cam- bridge, in honor of C!anibridge University. While the organiziition of the institution was in prog- ress. Rev. John Harvard, an English non-conform- ing clergyman, died in 1638, beqiieathing to the new school his library, consisting of 200 volumes, together with half of liis estate, valued at about £400. In recognition of this gift — niuniticent 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 1037 by Na- thaniel Eaton, who also taught until 1039, when he was dismissed for misconduct. The Rev. Henry Dunster was elected president in 1040. and in 1042 the first class, consisting of nine students, was graduated. The government of the college was tile same year vested in a board of overseers, consisting of the Covernor, 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 W'ith the positive assent of the overseers in matters relating to the in- ternal management of the college, leaving, how- ever, final jurisdiction to that body if necessary. These two governing bodies acted as checks upon each other throughout the earlier history of Har- vard, and though at times their antagonism was productive of some good, restraining the too rapid advances proposed b_v 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 minis- ters, 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 mem- bership ; the act of 1834 made clergymen of all denominations eligible for membership on the board: but it was not ratified by the cor- poration and overseer.s until 1843; the act of 1851 secularized the board by containing no reference to clergvmen; the act of 1805 trans- ferred 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 tu vote oil connnencenient day at Cam- bridge; in 1880 eligiliility to election as overseer was extended to non- residents of the State. Nom- inations are nuide by postal ballot, while the election is lield in Cambridge on conunencement day. Thus Harvard was successively freed fro 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 govern- ment, and to the religious controversies of the lilierals and ortliodox. Rev. Increase JIather, wlio 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 cul- minated in the confirmation of the charter of 1050, the liberals gaining control of the corpora- tion, while the orthodo. retained their inlluence in the board of overseers. In 1721 Tlioiuas Hol- lis, an Eng!i.sh merchant, endowed a divinity chair, expressly stipulating that the incumbent should not be subjected to any particular reli- gious tests. The overseers at first refused to accept the gift; ami when, at the instance of the corporation, they finally did accept it, the found- er's wishes were disregarded 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 1708 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 pa- triotic cause by converting its funds into cur- rency, 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 fimds being then estimated at .$182,000. The college after the clo.se of the Revo- lution 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 stud- ied at GiJttingen, a committee. wi(h Hon, .Toscph Storv as chairman, was appointed to impiire into the methods of discipline and instruction at the college. The committee reported in 1824. recom- mending the division of the college into depart- ments and the instituting of two classes of stud- ies: those necessary' for a degree and those which