Campus & Community

This month in Harvard history

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June 19, 1725 – The Harvard Corporation elects Benjamin Wadsworth, Class of 1690, as Harvards eighth President.

June 11, 1776 – The Provincial Congress grants the College permission to reoccupy its buildings, and Harvard prepares to return from Concord.

June 12, 1776 – The faculty passes a vote of thanks to the Town of Concord for sheltering the College during the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

June 21, 1776 – The College reassembles in Cambridge after its eight-month stay in Concord.

June 1904 – Helen Keller, who had lost sight and hearing in early childhood, earns her A.B. (with honors) from Radcliffe. Dorothy Elia Howells recalls the memorable moment in “A Century To Celebrate: Radcliffe College, 1879-1979.”

“Guided by Anne Sullivan [Keller’s faithful teacher and companion since childhood], she crossed the platform of Sanders Theater [sic]. As [Radcliffe] President [Le Baron Russell] Briggs was about to hand her her diploma he paused and said, ‘This seems to be a veritable fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” ‘ The applause that followed shook the hall, and Helen Keller felt its vibrations. Many students came to Radcliffe afterward because of Helen Keller.”

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