Indian College

Just a few years after its founding in 1636, Harvard University established the Indian College in the 1640s to educate Native Americans as well as English colonists. It did not attract a sufficient number of students for continued operation and funding from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England. The college closed by 1693 and the building was torn down. Its bricks were re-used for another building. In 1997, the college installed a historic plaque in Harvard Yard to commemorate the Indian College.

In the 1640s, Harvard faced a financial crisis, which it attempted to resolve by obtaining funds to educate and convert local Native Americans. As a result, Harvard's charter of 1650 called for "the Education of the English and Indian Youth of the Country." Harvard obtained funds from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England which agreed to build a two-story brick building, the first of its kind, in Harvard Yard. This building, the Indian College, was completed in 1656. The building was large enough to accommodate about twenty students. However, at the time of completion no Native American students attended the college, and the building was used for colonial English students instead.

The building was also used to house the first printing press in the English colonies. The printing press was housed in the building until 1692, when the steward of the Cambridge press, Samuel Green, died. Under the missionary John Eliot's direction, in 1663 the college printed a translation of the Bible into Massachusett language, which was the first Bible in any language printed in British North America. James Printer, an Algonquian-speaking Nipmuc who converted to Christianity, did much of the translation and typesetting. The press issued 15 books in the Algonquian language and 85 in English.

The building housed a total of four to five Native American students, but only one student, Caleb Cheeshateaumauk, graduated from Harvard. At least four Native American students attended the college:

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