Harvard University

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Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The university is composed of ten academic faculties plus the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Arts and Sciences offers study in a wide range of academic disciplines for undergraduates and for graduates, while the other faculties offer only graduate degrees, mostly professional. Harvard has three main campuses: the 209-acre (85 ha) Cambridge campus centered on Harvard Yard; an adjoining campus immediately across the Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston; and the medical campus in Boston's Longwood Medical Area.

Founded, 1636
Factoids
1653-John Sassamon, a Massachusett Indian, became the first known Native American to study at Harvard (probably for a term or so). A disciple of Indian Bible translator John Eliot, Sassamon later became a scribe and interpreter to Wampanoag Chief Metacom (a.k.a. Metacomet, Pometacom, King Philip). In 1675, Sassamon was murdered as an English informant, touching off King Philip’s War, New England’s most devastating conflict between Natives and newcomers.
Related People & Organizations
Josiah Quincy,Quincy House, one of the university's twelve upperclass residential houses, is named for Josiah Quincy.

Historic Maps >

Timeline
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1636
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1637
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1642
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1677
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1718
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1770
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1815
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1849
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1870
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1872
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1874
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1877
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1880
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1881
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1884
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1903
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1907
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1911
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1912
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1914
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1915
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1917
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1927
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1928+ 1
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1929
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1930
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1932
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1940
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1948
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1950
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1953
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1964
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1965
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1966
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1972+ 2
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1978
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1981
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1984
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1985
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1989
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1994
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1997
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1998
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1999
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2008
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2011+ 1
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2013
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2014
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2019
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2020
Images
3 ResultsShow less  
Images
3 ImagesShow less  
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Aerial view of Harvard Yard and Memorial Hall

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1931 - New Harvard buildings on Memorial Drive, 1931

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1874 - Harvard Yard, 1874

ASSOCIATED SITES
66 ResultsShow less  
Architecture
46 ResultsShow less  
Harvard College Yard purchased
1
Harvard College Yard purchased

Education

Harvard Hall
2
Harvard Hall

Education

Harvard Biological Laboratories
3
Harvard Biological Laboratories

Education

Hemenway Gymnasium
4
Hemenway Gymnasium

Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott

Recreation

Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center
5
Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center

Bruner/Cott & Associates, Chan Krieger (Chan Krieger NBBJ), Prellwitz Chilinski Associates, Sert, Jackson and Associates (Jose Luis Sert)

Multiuse

Memorial Church
6
Memorial Church

Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott

Place of Worship

Harvard Art Museum
7
Harvard Art Museum

Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott, Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Museum

Andover Hall
8
Andover Hall

Allen, Pelton, & Collens, Annum

Education

Matthews Hall
9
Matthews Hall

Peabody & Stearns

Education

Aldrich Hall
10
Aldrich Hall

Perry Dean Rogers Architects, McKim, Mead & White

Education

Hauser Hall
11
Hauser Hall

Kallmann McKinnell & Wood

Education

Harvard Stadium
12
Harvard Stadium

Charles Follen McKim, Lewis Jerome Johnson, George Bruno De Gersdorff

Recreation

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
13
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts

Le Corbusier

Galleries & Art Spaces

+1
Historic Hasty Pudding Theatre
14
Historic Hasty Pudding Theatre

Hasty Pudding Theatricals

Performance Space

Out of Town News
15
Out of Town News

Retail

Peabody Terrace
16
Peabody Terrace

Sert, Jackson and Associates (Jose Luis Sert), Bruner/Cott & Associates

Residential

+1
University Hall
17
University Hall

Charles Bulfinch, Bruner/Cott & Associates, Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott

Education

Child Hall
18
Child Hall

The Architects Collaborative (TAC)

Residential

Farkas Hall, New College Theater
19
Farkas Hall, New College Theater

Leers Weinzapfel Associates

Performance Space

Memorial Hall
20
Memorial Hall

William Robert Ware, Henry Van Brunt, John La Farge, Bruner/Cott & Associates, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates

Multiuse

+1
Widener Library
21
Widener Library

Horace Trumbauer & Associates

Library

Littauer Building
22
Littauer Building

ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge

Education

Maxwell-Dworkin
23
Maxwell-Dworkin

Payette

Education

Gund Hall
24
Gund Hall

Harvard University Graduate School of Design, John Andrews, Bruner/Cott & Associates

Education

One Western Avenue
25
One Western Avenue

Machado and Silvetti Associates

Residential

Tozzer Anthropology Building
26
Tozzer Anthropology Building

Johnson & Hotveld, Kennedy & Violich Architecture

Education

Sherman Fairchild Biochemistry Laboratory
27
Sherman Fairchild Biochemistry Laboratory

Payette

Education

+1
Harvard Graduate Center
28
Harvard Graduate Center

The Architects Collaborative (TAC)

Education

+2
Adolphus Busch Hall
29
Adolphus Busch Hall

German Bestelmeyer

Museum, Performance Space, Education

Weld Hall
30
Weld Hall

Henry Van Brunt, William Robert Ware

Harvard Museum of Natural History
31
Harvard Museum of Natural History

Museum

Harvard University Blackstone Offices
32
Harvard University Blackstone Offices

Bruner/Cott & Associates

Workplace

+1
Clover Restaurant
33
Clover Restaurant

SsD

Retail

+2
Harvard-Yenching Library
34
Harvard-Yenching Library

Horace Trumbauer & Associates

Library, Education

Harvard Business School Baker Library and Bloomberg Center
35
Harvard Business School Baker Library and Bloomberg Center

McKim, Mead & White, Robert A.M. Stern Architects

Education, Library

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
36
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

Museum

Sever Hall
37
Sever Hall

Henry Hobson Richardson

Education

Harvard Science Center
38
Harvard Science Center

Sert, Jackson and Associates (Jose Luis Sert), Leers Weinzapfel Associates

Education

+2
William James Hall
39
William James Hall

Minoru Yamasaki

Education

Austin Hall
40
Austin Hall

Henry Hobson Richardson

Education

Langdell Hall
41
Langdell Hall

Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge

Education

Sackler Building
42
Sackler Building

James Stirling, designLAB architects

Education

Caspersen Student Center
43
Caspersen Student Center

Robert A.M. Stern Architects

Education

Fanny Peabody Mason Music Building
44
Fanny Peabody Mason Music Building

Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott, Howells & Stokes

Education

Schwartz Common & Pavilion
45
Schwartz Common & Pavilion

Reid Architecture

Community Space

Harvard University Library Services Building
46
Harvard University Library Services Building

Leers Weinzapfel Associates

Education

+3
Events and Stories
5 ResultsShow less  
Murder in the Harvard medical school
47
Murder in the Harvard medical school

Disaster

First College in American colonies founded
48
First College in American colonies founded

Education

1st iron lung is invented
49
1st iron lung is invented

Invention

First Harvard Commencement
50
First Harvard Commencement

Education, Celebration

Battle of Golden Hill
51
Battle of Golden Hill

Military/Conflict

+1
Public Art
12 ResultsShow less  
Gilgamesh
52
Gilgamesh

Dimitri Hadzi, Cynthia Hadzi

Sculpture

Ines
53
Ines

Jaume Plensa

Sculpture

Charlestown Plaque
54
Charlestown Plaque

Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission

Plaque

Night Wall I
55
Night Wall I

Louise Nevelson

Sculpture

Cambridge Irish Famine Memorial
56
Cambridge Irish Famine Memorial

Maurice Harrow

Sculpture

The Onion
57
The Onion

Alexander Calder, Susan Morse Hilles

Sculpture

Untitled
58
Untitled

Joel Shapiro

Sculpture

Presence
59
Presence

Mary Frank, Harvard Business School Art & Artifacts Collection

Sculpture

Peter J. Solomon Gate
60
Peter J. Solomon Gate

Howeler + Yoon Architecture

Architectural

Charles Sumner Statue
61
Charles Sumner Statue

Anne Whitney

Sculpture

Honan-Allston Bike Racks and Tree Guards
62
Honan-Allston Bike Racks and Tree Guards

Richard Duca, Boston Public Library, Boston Art Commission, Eduard I Browne Trust Fund, Urban Arts Institute at the Massachusetts College of Art & Design

Sculpture

+1
John Harvard Statue
63
John Harvard Statue

Daniel Chester French

Sculpture

Planning
2 ResultsShow less  
Harvard Yard
64
Harvard Yard

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.

Campus

Harvard Square
65
Harvard Square

Cambridge Historical Commission

Historic District, Cultural District, Streetscape

Landscape
1 ResultShow less  
Northwest Laboratories Museum Yard
66
Northwest Laboratories Museum Yard

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.

Landscape Project

HISTORIC MAPS
4 ResultsShow less  
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