Harvard Gazette: This month in Harvard history

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May 05, 2005

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HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

This month in Harvard history

May 9, 1643 - Lady Mowlson (Ann[e] Radcliffe) creates Harvard College's first scholarship fund with a gift of £100. The "Harvard Annex," founded in 1879 for women's education, formally adopts her maiden name in 1894 to become known as Radcliffe College.

Ca. May 1655 - Disgruntled over being the first to complete the recently introduced four-year curriculum, 15 of the 17 members of the Class of 1655 refuse to pay a £3 Commencement fee or take their degree. Only two graduate.

May 14, 1655 - The College promulgates a newly revised set of "The Lawes of the Colledge" (a.k.a. the College Laws of 1655). Among the prohibitions: card-playing and long hair.

May 1, 1775 - By order of the Committee of Safety, the College closes early. The Provincial Congress soon commandeers Harvard's buildings and orders the library and scientific instruments to Andover for safekeeping. It takes several months for the College to find a suitable place (Concord) to reconvene. Four Harvard buildings soon quarter local troops: Massachusetts and Hollis Halls (640 each), Stoughton College (240; dismantled in 1781 and replaced in 1805 by the current hall of the same name), and Holden Chapel (160). Half a ton of lead from the Harvard Hall roof is also recycled into bullets that help drive the British from Boston.

- From the Harvard Historical Calendar, a database compiled by Marvin Hightower