"To Advance Learning and Perpetuate it to Posterity": New Narratives from the Harvard Yard Archaeological Collections

Summary

Several systematic excavations have been carried out in Harvard Yard since the late 1970s, focusing on different locations, including the Old College, Holden Chapel, and, most recently, the Indian College. These projects have produced significant collections that exist in a variety of forms and conditions.  Despite challenges, with attention, these finds can provide a rich, robust data set. New perspectives and analyses are enhancing our understandings of life at the college as it transitioned from the multi-cultural, Puritan institution established in 1636 to a contemporary, humanistic institution of higher education.  Archaeology provides critical opportunities to remember, critique, and edit Harvard’s established narrative for a variety of stakeholders. This paper summarizes the material and documentary archive that is being interrogated to bring forth new understandings of life at early Harvard while also forwarding recent initiatives of stakeholder engagement and public archaeology. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A Wealth of Data: Rising to the challenge of decades of curated collections   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 744