bumblebee
09-14-2005, 10:45 AM
On September 14, 1638, John Harvard, a 31-year-old clergyman from Charlestown, Massachusetts died, leaving his library and half of his estate to a local college. The young minister's bequest allowed the college to firmly establish itself. In honor of its first benefactor, the school adopted the name Harvard College.
Founded by the General Court of Massachusetts in 1636, Harvard is America's oldest institution of higher learning. From a college of nine students and one instructor, it has grown into a world-renowned university with over 18,000 degree candidates and 2,000 faculty members, including numerous Nobel laureates. Situated a few miles west of Boston on the Charles River in Cambridge, Harvard's main campus is one of the country's most scenic. With an endowment of $11 billion, the university is the country's wealthiest.
Seven U.S. presidents — John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush — were educated at Harvard, as were leaders in many fields. The school's notable alumni include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, W.E.B. Du Bois, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., T.S. Eliot, Ralph Bunche, David Rockefeller, I.M. Pei, Robert Coles, Patricia Schroeder, Al Gore, Jr., and Yo-Yo Ma.