the oldest university in the USA. Founded in 1636 as a college, since 1639 it has had the name of J. Harvard (1607-38), an English minister and bachelor of arts who emigrated to America and willed half of his property and his library to the college. Harvard is located in the city of Cambridge near Boston, Mass.
Until the end of the 18th century the curriculum consisted mainly of the Bible and classical languages. At the end of the 18th century modern languages and mathematics were introduced. As late as the early 19th century the college was essentially a privileged high school, which usually accepted 14-year-old students. Its curriculum was compulsory for all students. Harvard actually became a university in the first quarter of the 19th century, when a medical school (founded in 1810) and a law school (founded in 1817) were annexed to the college. The program was expanded to include the study of history, political economy, chemistry, geology, and other subjects. Since the second quarter of the 19th century Harvard University has been a center of cultural life in the northeastern USA. Many eminent scholars have taught there, including the poet and literary critic H. Longfellow. C. Eliot, an American educator, played an important role in the development of Harvard University and served as its president from 1869 to 1909.
In the academic year 1969-70 in addition to the general undergraduate college, the university included many other schools—humanities and natural sciences, law, medicine, public health, theology, design, public administration, business administration, education, and applied physics and engineering. It also included the schools of arts and sciences, of dentistry, and so forth. The university has an astronomical observatory and houses several museums, including those of comparative zoology, art, Germanic cultures, and geology. In the academic year 1967-68 more than 15,000 students were enrolled at Harvard University, with a teaching staff of 4,902. The Harvard Library (founded in 1638) includes about 8 million books and pamphlets. In addition to the central collection, there are separate libraries of rare books and manuscripts, medicine, and Chinese and Japanese studies.