Harvard From A Coffee Cup

The following historical information about Harvard University was taken from a coffee cup I purchased there during my second trip to Massachusetts. "The oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, Harvard College was established in 1636 by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and named for its first benefactor, John Harvard, a young minister. Harvard was founded to educate the new colony's religious and secular leadership. The Charter of 1650, granted by the General Court, dedicated the College to "the advancement of all good literature, artes and science." By 1780, the state constitution had recognized Harvard as a university. Throughout the early years, the College produced or attracted a long list of famous scholars including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russel Lowell, William James, the elder Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Louis Agassiz."