Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century, Part II

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Interesting though the first volume of Samuel Morison’s tercentenary history of Harvard was, this second volume is even more so from many points of view. There are, for instance, a chapter which takes the student through his day from rising bell and morning bever to dinner, supper, and bed; another on college amusements, brawls, and pranks of the century; still another on student life at the end of the century, with an amusing account of the excursion of Tutors Leverett and Brattle with their pupils to Manhattan. The most important contribution to educational history consists in seven chapters on the curriculum, which give for the first time a detailed account of methods, subjects, and books. The financial history of the College is continued with notes on some of the important benefactions. Much attention is paid to the personality of the Presidents: Dunster, Chauncy, Hoar, Oakes, and Increase Mather.