page_title: Harvard University
section_title: Cambridge
hierarchical_section_title: Harvard University / Campuses / Cambridge
caption_attribution_description: English: Harvard Memorial Church 2009 winter
context_page_description: Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, clergyman John Harvard, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States
  and among the most prestigious in the world.
  The Massachusetts colonial legislature, the General Court, authorized Harvard's founding. In its early years, Harvard College primarily trained Congregational and Unitarian clergy, although it has never been formally affiliated with any denomination. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, and by the 19th century, Harvard had emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites.
  Following the American Civil War, President Charles William Eliot's long tenure transformed the college and affiliated professional schools into a modern research university; Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900. James B. Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II; he liberalized admissions after the war.
context_section_description: Harvard's 209-acre (85 ha) main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, about 3 miles (5 km) west-northwest of downtown Boston, and extends into the surrounding Harvard Square neighborhood. Harvard Yard itself contains key administrative offices such as University Hall and Massachusetts Hall; libraries such as Widener, Pusey, Houghton, and Lamont; Memorial Church; academic buildings such as Sever Hall and Harvard Hall; and most freshman dormitories. Sophomore, junior, and senior undergraduates live in twelve residential houses, nine of which are south of Harvard Yard along or near the Charles River. The other three are located in a residential neighborhood half a mile northwest of the Yard at the Quadrangle (commonly referred to as the "Quad") which housed Radcliffe College students until Radcliffe merged its residential system with Harvard. Each residential house is a community with undergraduates, faculty deans, and resident tutors, as well as a dining hall, library, and recreational spaces.
  The houses were made possible by a gift from Yale University alumnus Edward Harkness.
  Radcliffe Yard, formerly the center of the campus of Radcliffe College and now home to Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study,
  is adjacent to the Graduate School of Education and the Cambridge Common.
  Harvard has several commercial real estate holdings in Cambridge.
caption: Memorial Church
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