Cabot House, one of the twelve undergraduate houses in Harvard College, was formed in 1970 when the South and East Houses of Radcliffe College were combined into South House. As a result of the Harvard/Radcliffe merger agreement of 1971, Harvard assumed management of the Radlciffe Hosues and integrated them into the Harvard house system. South House was renamed in December 1983 in honor of Thomas Dudley Cabot (AB 1919) and his wife Virginia Wellington Cabot, and is comprised of six residential halls surrounding the Radcliffe quadrangle: Bertram Hall, Eliot Hall, Barnard Hall, Briggs Hall, Cabot Hall, and Whitman Hall.
The house system at Harvard began in 1928, under President Lowell with a $13 million dollar gift by Edward Harkness. Modeled after the colleges at Oxford, the system was intended to strengthen the social bonds between students, and to encourage more informal interaction among students, tutors, and faculty. The Houses offer some academic instruction, have their own dining halls and libraries, and promote extracurricular activities relating to music, theater, sports, and other special interests. Each House is overseen by a Master, a senior faculty member who lives in a private residence within the house. House staff includes an Allston Burr Resident Dean (formerly Senior Tutor), responsible for overseeing students' academic and personal well-being, as well as resident and non-resident tutors. The staff and non-resident faculty associates make up the Senior Common Room, which hosts dinners and other events.
From the description of General information about residential life in Cabot House, 1970-1985. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 373537233
