Henry Dunster (baptized November 26, 1609, died February 27, 1658/1659) was an Anglo-American Puritan clergyman and the first president of Harvard College. He was born at Bolholt, Bury, Lancashire, England to Henry Dunster Sr. (1582–1626) and Isabel Kaye (1583–1643).
Dunster studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge, specializing in oriental languages. He earned bachelor's degree (1630) and his master's degrees (1634) and taught at Magdalene. He se...
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Henry Dunster (baptized November 26, 1609, died February 27, 1658/1659) was an Anglo-American Puritan clergyman and the first president of Harvard College. He was born at Bolholt, Bury, Lancashire, England to Henry Dunster Sr. (1582–1626) and Isabel Kaye (1583–1643).
Dunster studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge, specializing in oriental languages. He earned bachelor's degree (1630) and his master's degrees (1634) and taught at Magdalene. He served as a master of Bury Grammar School and was a clergyman at Saint Mary's Church in Bury.
Dunster emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1640. When Nathaniel Eaton was dismissed in 1639 as master of the recently-established Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dunster was appointed as his successor. Thus on August 27, 1640 Dunster became the first president of Harvard. (For a discussion of Dunster's choice of the title "president" see President, history of the term.) He modeled Harvard's educational system on that of the English...
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