On Harvard – again

By the way, why Harvard is called Harvard? Who is it named for? I guess, everybody knows that, but for me – it was a discovery of the day.

It was named for English clergyman John Harvard. Mr. Harvard together with his wife has moved from London to America in 1673. He became a clergyman there and has died of tuberculosis a year later.

Since Mr. Harvard did not have children, he has left 779 pounds and his library (about 400 volumes) to the New College created in 1636 – he and the president of the latter were good friends.

This money allowed to construct the first building for the New College, and the latter was renamed to Harvard College in 1639, which became the full blown University a hundred years later – in 1780.

It is interesting to note that the very first building constructed thanks to Mr. Harvard’s money as well as all Harvard’s original library were destroyed during the fire in 1764. All except one book – called “The Christian Warfare Against the Devil World and Flesh”.

There exists a statue of Mr. Harvard at Harvard University – however, it does not really reflect how the actual Harvard looked like since no images/pictures of him exist.

Via Boris Ivanov.