Harvard University

Harvard University Alumni from 1642, Very Rare

This rare catalog, printed in Latin in 1794, provides a directory of all alumni of Harvard from 1642 to 1794, organized by year of graduation.

Harvard University. Catalogus Eorum Qui In Universitate Harvardiana, Cantabrigiæ, in Republica Massachusettensi, ab Anno MDCXLII, ad Annum MDCCXCIV. (Boston: John Fleet, 1794). 40 pp., 5.75" x 9.5". Edge tears and significant tears to final leaf.

Prominent Harvard alumni listed in the directory include then-current Vice President and future President John Adams (1755), future President John Quincy Adams (1787), architect Charles Bulfinch (1781), Supreme Court associate justice William Cushing (1751), author and founding editor of Port Folio Joseph Dennie (1790), future U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Samuel Dexter (1781), future Vice President Elbridge Gerry (1762), Massachusetts Governor John Hancock (1754), composer Jacob Kimball (1780), minister and Harvard president Increase Mather (1656), minister Cotton Mather (1678), then-current Postmaster General and future U.S. Secretary of State Timothy Pickering (1763), founder of Phillips Exeter Academy John Phillips (1735), and scientist and Harvard professor John Winthrop (1732). The directory listed 3,399 alumni, of whom 1,491 were living in 1794, and 1,079 pastors, of whom 368 were living.

Established in 1636 by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. The college was named in 1639 after young clergyman John Harvard (1607-1638), who left the college a bequest and his scholarly library. In its early years, half of Harvard's graduates became Puritan ministers, educated through a classical curriculum based on the English university model. Clergymen served as the presidents of Harvard until 1708, when John Leverett became the first president who was not a clergyman.

By the middle of the eighteenth century, only about 15 percent of the graduates of Harvard became ministers, but many others became leaders in politics, business, and the sciences, as this directory reflects.

This directory also reflects the practice of "placing" or ordering each class by the faculty until the class of 1772. From the beginnings of the college to the mid-eighteenth century, students were "placed" by the date of their admission to the college, following the traditions of Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. From the 1750s to the 1770s, it appears that a student's family's prominence became the determining factor in their undergraduate placement. After 1772, graduates were listed alphabetically by surname.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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