FOUNDER A GREAT BENEFACTOR

The following information about the life and character of John Harvard and his connection with the University is printed in view of the recent celebration of the 307th anniversary of his birth.

After holding the titles of bachelor and master in Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, England, John Harvard probably landed in Massachusetts in the year 1637. Trained in a centre of Puritanism, with ancestors who were Puritans by faith, and tradesmen by calling, he naturally found his way into a colony in which at least 70 of the leading men, divines and laymen, were also graduates of Emmanuel College.

He took up his residence near Boston and Newton, in a district known as Charlestown, and became interested in the college established at Newtowne in 1636 by order of the General Court. This interest led to a bequest of half his estate, $3900, and a library of 300 volumes to the college. Accordingly in 1639 the University received the name of Harvard College. What the colony had pledged its credit to do for the University, it never did, and the burden of responsibility fell on John Harvard to a great extent.

Very few of the objects identified with the life of Harvard have been preserved in the region in which he lived. The library, save one volume which was out on a loan, was destroyed in the fire that ruined Harvard Hall in 1764, and his house was razed by flames in Charles-town in 1775. The University erected a monument to its founder in 1884, but inasmuch as no portrait of John Harvard could be found, the sculpture used the features of a living alumnus as the model for the face.