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| | [[File:Col-mass.jpg|thumb|300px|Harvard College was founded in 1636 making Boston the intellectual center of New England]] | | [[File:Col-mass.jpg|thumb|300px|Harvard College was founded in 1636 making Boston the intellectual center of New England]] |
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| − | When the college's first president Henry Dunster abandoned Puritanism in favor of the [[Baptist]] faith in 1653, he provoked a controversy that highlighted two distinct approaches to dealing with dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony's Puritan leaders, whose own religion was born of dissent from mainstream Church of England, generally worked for reconciliation with members who questioned matters of Puritan theology but responded much more harshly to outright rejection of Puritanism. Dunster's conflict with the colony's magistrates began when he failed to have his infant son baptized, believing, as a newly converted Baptist, that only adults should be baptized. Efforts to restore Dunster to Puritan orthodoxy failed, and his apostasy proved untenable to colony leaders who had entrusted him, in his job as Harvard's president, to uphold the colony's religious mission. Thus, he represented a threat to the stability of society. Dunster exiled himself in 1654 and moved to nearby Plymouth Colony, where he died in 1658.<ref> Timothy L. Wood, "'I Spake the Truth in the Feare of God': the Puritan Management of Dissent During the Henry Dunster Controversy," ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts'' 2005 33(1): 1-19, </ref> | + | When the college's first president Henry Dunster abandoned Puritanism in favor of the [[Baptist]] faith in 1653, he provoked a controversy that highlighted two distinct approaches to dealing with dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony's Puritan leaders, whose own religion was born of dissent from mainstream Church of England, generally worked for reconciliation with members who questioned matters of Puritan theology but responded much more harshly to outright rejection of Puritanism. Dunster's conflict with the colony's magistrates began when he failed to have his infant son baptized, believing, as a newly converted Baptist, that only adults should be baptized. Efforts to restore Dunster to Puritan orthodoxy failed, and his apostasy proved untenable to colony leaders who had entrusted him, in his job as Harvard's president, to uphold the colony's religious mission. Thus, he represented a threat to the stability of society. Dunster exiled himself in 1654 and moved to nearby Plymouth Colony, where he died in 1658.<ref>Timothy L. Wood, "'I Spake the Truth in the Feare of God': the Puritan Management of Dissent During the Henry Dunster Controversy," ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts'' 2005 33(1): 1-19,</ref> |
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| | The early motto of Harvard was ''Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae'', meaning "Truth For Christ and the Church." In the early classes half the graduates became ministers. By the 1760s the proportion was down to 15%. Ten out of the first twelve presidents were also ministers. Systematic theological instruction was inaugurated in 1721 and by 1827 Harvard became a nucleus of theological teaching in New England.<ref>http://www.reference.com/browse/Harvard</ref> | | The early motto of Harvard was ''Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae'', meaning "Truth For Christ and the Church." In the early classes half the graduates became ministers. By the 1760s the proportion was down to 15%. Ten out of the first twelve presidents were also ministers. Systematic theological instruction was inaugurated in 1721 and by 1827 Harvard became a nucleus of theological teaching in New England.<ref>http://www.reference.com/browse/Harvard</ref> |
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| − | The departure of Increase Mather from the presidency in 1701 marked the beginning of a long term struggle between orthodoxy and liberalism. Harvard's first secular president was John Leverett, who began his term in 1708. Leverett left the curriculum largely intact and sought to keep the College independent of the overwhelming influence of any single sect <ref>[http://www.president.harvard.edu/history/07_leverett.php John Leverett - History - Office of the President]</ref>. | + | The departure of Increase Mather from the presidency in 1701 marked the beginning of a long term struggle between orthodoxy and liberalism. Harvard's first secular president was John Leverett, who began his term in 1708. Leverett left the curriculum largely intact and sought to keep the College independent of the overwhelming influence of any single sect.<ref>[http://www.president.harvard.edu/history/07_leverett.php John Leverett - History - Office of the President]</ref> |
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| − | Seven alumni were killed in the [[American Revolution]]. [[Loyalists]] were outnumbered seven to one by patriots among the graduates of Harvard and, at the conclusion of the war, found themselves outside of both American and British society, especially lacking business contacts. Patriots, however, were much more mixed in their later careers, with some going on to wealth and others receding into obscurity. [[John Adams]] became the second president of the United States.<ref> Jack P. Greene, "Harvard Men in a Changing World," ''Massachusetts Historical Review'' 2007 9: 166-176, </ref> | + | Seven alumni were killed in the [[American Revolution]]. [[Loyalists]] were outnumbered seven to one by patriots among the graduates of Harvard and, at the conclusion of the war, found themselves outside of both American and British society, especially lacking business contacts. Patriots, however, were much more mixed in their later careers, with some going on to wealth and others receding into obscurity. [[John Adams]] became the second president of the United States.<ref>Jack P. Greene, "Harvard Men in a Changing World," ''Massachusetts Historical Review'' 2007 9: 166-176,</ref> |
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| | ===19th century=== | | ===19th century=== |
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| | In 1846, the natural history lectures of [[Louis Agassiz]] were acclaimed both in New York and on his campus at Harvard College. Agassiz's approach was distinctly idealist and posited Americans' 'participation in the Divine Nature' and the possibility of understanding 'intellectual existences.' Agassiz's perspective on science combined observation with intuition and the assumption that one can grasp the 'divine plan' in all phenomena. When it came to explaining life-forms, Agassiz resorted to matters of shape based on a presumed archetype for his evidence. This dual view of knowledge was in concert with the teachings of [[Common Sense Realism]] derived from Scottish philosophers Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart, whose works were part of the Harvard curriculum at the time. The popularity of Agassiz's efforts to 'soar with Plato' probably also derived from other writings to which Harvard students were exposed, including Platonic treatises by Ralph Cudworth, John Norris, and, in a Romantic vein, [[Samuel Coleridge]]. The library records at Harvard reveal that the writings of Plato and his early modern and Romantic followers were almost as regularly read during the 19th century as those of the 'official philosophy' of the more empirical and more deistic Scottish school.<ref>David K. Nartonis, "Louis Agassiz and the Platonist Story of Creation at Harvard, 1795-1846," ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 2005 66(3): 437-449, [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3654189 in JSTOR]</ref> | | In 1846, the natural history lectures of [[Louis Agassiz]] were acclaimed both in New York and on his campus at Harvard College. Agassiz's approach was distinctly idealist and posited Americans' 'participation in the Divine Nature' and the possibility of understanding 'intellectual existences.' Agassiz's perspective on science combined observation with intuition and the assumption that one can grasp the 'divine plan' in all phenomena. When it came to explaining life-forms, Agassiz resorted to matters of shape based on a presumed archetype for his evidence. This dual view of knowledge was in concert with the teachings of [[Common Sense Realism]] derived from Scottish philosophers Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart, whose works were part of the Harvard curriculum at the time. The popularity of Agassiz's efforts to 'soar with Plato' probably also derived from other writings to which Harvard students were exposed, including Platonic treatises by Ralph Cudworth, John Norris, and, in a Romantic vein, [[Samuel Coleridge]]. The library records at Harvard reveal that the writings of Plato and his early modern and Romantic followers were almost as regularly read during the 19th century as those of the 'official philosophy' of the more empirical and more deistic Scottish school.<ref>David K. Nartonis, "Louis Agassiz and the Platonist Story of Creation at Harvard, 1795-1846," ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 2005 66(3): 437-449, [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3654189 in JSTOR]</ref> |
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| − | Charles W. Eliot, president 1869-1909, eliminated the favored position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, but by Transcendentalist Unitarian convictions. Derived from [[William Ellery Channing]] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], these convictions were focused on the dignity and worth of human nature, the right and ability of each person to perceive truth, and the indwelling God in each person.<ref>Stephen P. Shoemaker, "The Theological Roots of Charles W. Eliot's Educational Reforms," ''Journal of Unitarian Universalist History'' 2006-2007 31: 30-45, </ref> | + | Charles W. Eliot, president 1869-1909, eliminated the favored position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, but by Transcendentalist Unitarian convictions. Derived from [[William Ellery Channing]] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], these convictions were focused on the dignity and worth of human nature, the right and ability of each person to perceive truth, and the indwelling God in each person.<ref>Stephen P. Shoemaker, "The Theological Roots of Charles W. Eliot's Educational Reforms," ''Journal of Unitarian Universalist History'' 2006-2007 31: 30-45,</ref> |
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| | Football, originally organized by students as an extracurricular activity, was banned twice by the university for being a brutal and dangerous sport. However, by the 1880s, football became a dominant force at the college as the alumni became more involved in the sport. In 1882, the faculty formed a three-member athletic committee to oversee all intercollegiate athletics, but, due to increasing student and alumni pressure, the committee was expanded in 1885 to include three student and three alumni members. The alumni's role in the rise and commercialization of football, the leading moneymaker for athletics by the 1880s, was evident in the fundraising for the first steel-reinforced concrete stadium. The class of 1879 donated $100,000 - nearly one-third of the cost - to the construction of the 35,000-seat stadium, which was completed in 1903, with the remainder to be collected from future ticket sales.<ref>Ronald A. Smith, "Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics and the 1903 Harvard Stadium," ''New England Quarterly'', Vol. 78, No. 1 (Mar., 2005), pp. 26-48 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559707 in JSTOR]</ref> | | Football, originally organized by students as an extracurricular activity, was banned twice by the university for being a brutal and dangerous sport. However, by the 1880s, football became a dominant force at the college as the alumni became more involved in the sport. In 1882, the faculty formed a three-member athletic committee to oversee all intercollegiate athletics, but, due to increasing student and alumni pressure, the committee was expanded in 1885 to include three student and three alumni members. The alumni's role in the rise and commercialization of football, the leading moneymaker for athletics by the 1880s, was evident in the fundraising for the first steel-reinforced concrete stadium. The class of 1879 donated $100,000 - nearly one-third of the cost - to the construction of the 35,000-seat stadium, which was completed in 1903, with the remainder to be collected from future ticket sales.<ref>Ronald A. Smith, "Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics and the 1903 Harvard Stadium," ''New England Quarterly'', Vol. 78, No. 1 (Mar., 2005), pp. 26-48 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559707 in JSTOR]</ref> |
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| | * Harvard Medical School | | * Harvard Medical School |
| | * Harvard School of Dental Medicine | | * Harvard School of Dental Medicine |
| − | * [[Harvard Business School]] (Founded in 1908, HBS was originally located in Harvard Yard. The present campus, with its stately Georgian buildings following the gentle curve on the Boston side of the Charles River, was dedicated in June of 1927.) <ref> [http://www.hbs.edu/campus/ Campus.] </ref> | + | * [[Harvard Business School]] (Founded in 1908, HBS was originally located in Harvard Yard. The present campus, with its stately Georgian buildings following the gentle curve on the Boston side of the Charles River, was dedicated in June 1927.) <ref>[http://www.hbs.edu/campus/ Campus.]</ref> |
| | * Graduate School of Design | | * Graduate School of Design |
| | * [[Harvard Divinity School]] | | * [[Harvard Divinity School]] |