Coventina's History Thread: Origins of Harvard

What do you know about our oldest, and most prestigious college?

The general court of Massachusetts allotted 400 pounds for a college across the Charles River from Boston in what became known as Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school was named for John Harvard, a clergyman from England's Cambridge University, which at the time was known to be a hotbed of Puritanism - the severe, idealistic faith opposed to the dominant Church of England.

John Harvard's family had known William Shakespeare. When the plague felled his brothers and his father, John inherited a considerable estate, including the Queen's Head Tavern. After immigrating to Boston, he became a preacher in Charleston, Massachusetts, but his career was short. In 1638, at the age of 31, he died of consumption, having bequeathed money and his personal library to the planned college.