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Founding of Harvard College

Type Event Region North America Time 1636–1639

In 1636 the Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court funded North America's first institution of higher education, initially called the 'New College' a…

Timeline

  1. 1636Newtown (now Cambridge) · Massachusetts Bay ColonyOn October 28, 1636, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony voted to appropriate £400 to establish a college at Newtown, aiming to train the educated Puritan ministers and leaders the colony needed, lest 'uneducated ministers be left to posterity.'
  2. 1638–1639Cambridge · Massachusetts Bay ColonyIn 1638, Puritan minister John Harvard, on his deathbed, donated about 400 volumes from his library and half his personal estate (about £780) to the college. In March 1639 the General Court resolved to name the institution 'Harvard College' in commemoration of his generous gift, setting a precedent for North American universities being named after donors.

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