Harvard's first corporation wasn't built on prestige — it was built on panic. The young college had nearly collapsed after its first president, Nathaniel Eaton, was dismissed for brutality and theft. So in 1650, Massachusetts Bay Colony granted Harvard a formal charter, creating not just a governing board but the first legal corporation in the Americas. Six men. One document. And a legal structure so durable it still runs Harvard today — making America's oldest university also home to its oldest corporation.
June 9, 1650
376 years ago
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