Harvard 400 · The 400-year story

16362036

Four centuries in one continuous motion. Scroll, and the years advance — the map flies to where each chapter happened, and the places of that moment light up. The founding to the anniversary, walked through time.

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The Founding
1636
The Founding1636

Founding of Harvard College (1636)

In 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony's Great and General Court approved £400 for a college; the institution later took the name Harvard College.

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The Founding1636

Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard, founded in 1636 by vote of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's Great and General Court, is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States.

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The Founding1636

Harvard Yard

Harvard Yard

Harvard Yard grew from the College's first acre, purchased in 1637 or early 1638, and remains the historic core of Harvard's Cambridge campus.

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The Founding1638

First Printing Press in British America (1638)

A printing press was operating in Cambridge by 1638, the first in England's American colonies, placing early printed culture beside the young college.

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The Age of Abolition & Industry1878

Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall

Conceived after the Civil War to honor Harvard graduates who served the Union, Memorial Hall was built as a memorial, theater, and gathering place and transferred to Harvard in 1878.

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The Age of Abolition & Industry1879

Radcliffe College Founded (1879)

Founded as the Harvard Annex in 1879, the institution was chartered as Radcliffe College in 1894 and merged with Harvard in 1999.

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The Age of Abolition & Industry1895

Harvard Art Museums

Harvard Art Museums

Harvard Art Museums brings together the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler museums, whose institutional records date from 1895 to the present.

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The Modern City1944

The Mark I Computer (1944)

Delivered to Harvard in 1944, the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, later called the Mark I, was designed by Howard Aiken and built by IBM for automatic calculation.

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