This month in Harvard History

Sept. 17, 1701 – Increase Mather steps down as President.

Sept. 1, 1779 – The College holds £15,000 in continental loan certificates and £600 in state treasury notes.

Sept. 20, 1781 – The Harvard Corporation elects Joseph Willard, Class of 1765, as Harvard’s 12th President.

Sept. 25, 1804 – President Joseph Willard dies in office.

September 1902 – More than 600 undergraduates arrive in the Class of 1906. Until just before World War I, entering Classes stabilize around this size.

September 1906 – The Medical School dedicates its newly built Longwood Ave. quarters, designed by architect Charles A. Coolidge, Class of 1881. At the time, the new facilities constitute the nation’s largest and most comprehensive array of medical-school buildings.

September 1917 – Because of World War I, freshman enrollment drops to 550. The senior class is 50 percent smaller than its immediate predecessor.

September 1920 – The Graduate School of Education opens.

Sept. 25, 1933 – The Society of Fellows sits down for the first of its weekly dinners.

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