Harvard University

Harvard University, founded on October 28, 1636, by the Massachusetts Bay Colony's Great and General Court, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Initially established to train clergy and prevent an "illiterate ministry," it was named after Puritan clergyman John Harvard, who bequeathed his library and half his estate in 1638. The university's early mission, reflected in its motto *Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae*, centered on theological training, but it gradually secularized, notably with the election of Unitarian Henry Ware in 1805. Early challenges included mismanagement that led to temporary closure before the leadership of its first president, Henry Dunster.