How Harvard Became HARVARD

EDU A762 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

In its nearly 400 years of existence, Harvard has been transformed from a tiny educational institution in a colonial outpost to the world’s most famous and envied university, and now, finds itself at the center of the federal government’s effort to remake higher education.  How did this transformation take place? This course will explore this change, focusing on three interrelated themes: its students and their experiences; its role in the preservation, dissemination, and production of knowledge; and its connections to the larger society.  We will trace these themes through three phases of Harvard’s development, first as an institution of local significance (1630s-1850s), next as an institution of national significance (1860s-1940s), and finally as an institution of global significance (1950s to the present).

While Harvard is the focus of the course, we will consider its history in the context of American higher education more broadly and the political and social developments with which it is intertwined. We will also use the history of Harvard to reflect on how historical scholarship is produced and used. We will examine the differences between academic history and public history and will work with the building blocks of historical scholarship - primary sources - through visits to the Harvard University Archives and the use of their materials and other relevant collections in Harvard Libraries. We will look forward to Harvard’s 400th anniversary and consider the different ways its history might be told.