Harvard University. Board of Overseers

The Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting was established in the spring of 1977 to recognize and encourage book collecting by undergraduates at Harvard. It is sponsored by the Members of the Board of Overseer's Committee to Visit the Harvard University Library.

From the description of General information about the Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting. 1977- (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 228511952

The Board of Overseers is one of Harvard's two Governing Boards, the other one being the President and Fellows, more commonly known as the Corporation. The Board of Overseers consists of thirty alumni of the University elected by degree holders in groups of five each year for terms of six years. In addition, the President and Treasurer of the University are ex officio members of Board. Overseers' principal duties are visitation and counsel, which are carried out through the Board's numerous Visiting and Standing Committees. The Secretary of the Board of Overseers and Office of the Governing Boards staff provide administrative services to Board members and act as liaisons between Overseer committees, faculty, University administration, and the Corporation.

From the description of Records of the Board of Overseers, 1650-1998 (inclusive), 1825-1998 (bulk) (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 77064984

• 1636: Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony levied funds for the establishment of a college in Newtown. The General Court passed the legislative act that founded Harvard College: "The Court agreed to give 400 L towards a schoale or colledge, whearof 200 L to bee paid the next yeare, and 200 L when the worke is finished, and the next Court to appoint wheare and what building." (Massachusetts Bay Records, I. 183).
• 1637: By vote of the General Court, "The Colldg is ordered to bee at Newetowne." General Court appointed first Board of Overseers for the College. Board consisted of the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Deputy Governor, certain Reverends, and citizens. The Board was not permanently organized until 1642.
• 1638: Name of Newton changed to Cambridge. The town of Cambridge granted to "the professor," Master Nathaniel Eaton, three parcels of land, two of which became part of the college yard, and the grounds immediately to the north. The College opened to students.
• 1642 - 1686 : The General Court gave the Board of Overseers the following permanent organization: Governor, Deputy Governor, and all magistrates (assistants) of the Colony, the ordained ministers of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester, and the President of the College.
• 1650: General Court grants Charter under which Harvard still operates today. The President and Treasurer and five fellows are incorporated as the President and Fellows of Harvard College, also known as the Corporation. The Charter defined the relations of the Corporation to the already established Board of Overseers. Since 1650, the function of the Board of Overseers has been to review the actions of the Corporation.
• 1657: In response to a request from the Board of Overseers for clarification of the delineation of the powers distributed between the Corporation and the Board, the General Court added an Appendix to the Charter of 1650. The Appendix made clear that the Corporation was expected to act as the superior governing board with responsibility for decisions regarding the order and work of the College. However, no Corporation vote, except in emergency cases, was to be considered valid without the consent of the Overseers. The Appendix added that emergency acts implemented by the Corporation could later be invalidated by the Board of Overseers. Overseers were not to introduce matters of action. Their primary concern should be the welfare of the College. The Appendix also required sufficient notice, except once again in emergency cases, for meetings of the Overseers called by the Corporation or by the Board itself.
• 1685 - 1701 : Increase Mather serves as President of Harvard College. From 1686 to 1692, Mather served as head of the College, with the title Rector.
• 1686 - 1692 : Corporation in abeyance or a condition of suspended activity. In 1686, the Council for New England superseded the Massachusetts Bay Charter under which the Colony of Massachusetts had been governed. The Charter of 1650, which had been granted under the authority of the Colony, was now considered null and void since it had not been granted by the King.
• 1686 - 1707 : Board of Overseers fell into abeyance. Under the Charters of 1692 and 1697 and the arrangement of 1700, the Corporation was the sole Governing Board.
• 1692 - 1697 : Charter of 1692 placed the government of the College under the President and an expanded Corporation. Charter disallowed by the King because it did not reserve visitation power to the Crown, which would have allowed the Crown to have a say in the government of the College.
• 1697 - 1699 : Charter of 1697 gave the power of visitation to both the Royal Governor and the Council for New England. Charter was disallowed by the King because of shared visitation power between a representative of the crown and an elected representative body.
• 1699: Charter of 1699 rejected by the Crown because of a requirement that only those who practiced orthodox Congregationalism could serve as President or Fellow of Harvard College.
• 1700 - 1707 : The College operates under draft charter passed by the General Court, which gave responsibility for the government of the College to the de facto College Corporation. This Charter required the President of the College to live in Cambridge. Mather refused, and in 1701 he was forced to resign his post.
• 1701 - 1707 : Samuel Willard serves as Vice-President of Harvard College. Willard served as de facto President of the College. However, since he lived outside of Cambridge, and in order to meet the General Court technicality which had helped to remove Mather from office, Willard led the school under the title of Vice-President.
• 1707: Charter of 1650 restored and the Board of Overseers restored as organized under the Act of 1642. The Councilors of the Province (and after 1775 of the State) took the place of the Magistrates of the Colony. Only ministers of Congregational churches were admitted to the clerical places on the Board. The Corporation began to exert its lawful authority that had previously been exercised by the Overseers during the seventeenth century.
• 1735: The Board of Overseers called for the systematic exercise of its visitation power by appointing a Committee "to inquire into the present state of the college and consider what may be beneficial thereunto."
• 1764: The title of Clerk was altered to Secretary of the Board of Overseers.
• 1780: Authority of Corporation confirmed through the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Constitution confirmed the Act of 1642 and defined the membership of the Board of Overseers under that act as consisting of "the Governor, Lt. Governor, Council, and Senate of this Commonwealth [together with] the ministers of the Congregational Churches in the towns of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester." The President of the College continued to be an ex-officio member. The term Congregational included the Unitarian Church.
• 1790: The Board of Overseers voted to have the Secretary of the Board attend all meetings of the visiting committees, and keep a record of all their proceedings in a separate book.
• 1793: The Board of Overseers voted to require the Secretary to always have a correct list of the members of the Board and to produce this list at every meeting. It is from this list that overseer committee members were nominated.
• 1810: In early 1810, the Massachusetts Legislature under Federalist control, voted to reorganize and redefine the requirements for membership on the Board of Overseers. The move was politically motivated to weaken the power of Republican legislators. The Act, which was accepted by the University, removed the State Senate (except its President) from the Board of Overseers, added the Speaker of the House, confined the number of clerical members to fifteen, and added fifteen laymen, who were to be elected by the existing Board for life, unless disqualified by non-residence in Massachusetts, or removed by the Board for neglect of duties. In addition, ministers of Congregational churches anywhere in Massachusetts were now eligible for the clerical positions on the Board.
• 1811: In Massachusetts state elections, the Republicans regain control from the Federalists over all three branches of the Legislature.
• 1812: The Legislature under Republican control, repealed the Act of 1810, returning the full State Senate to membership on the Board of Overseers. The Harvard Corporation, which was sympathetic to the Federalist cause, denied the validity of the Act of 1812. The Republican victory was short-lived however, as the spring 1812 elections saw the Federalists win the Governor's office.
• 1814: Federalists are majority party in the Massachusetts State Senate. Legislature votes to repeal Act of 1812 and re-enact the Act of 1810 after a major alteration--the State Senate would continue to serve on the Board of Overseers as ex officio members. The Act of 1814 was accepted by both the Corporation and Board of Overseers.
• 1822: The Board of Overseers voted, in addition to the usual notifications of meetings, to require the Secretary of the Board to publish notifications in at least two Boston newspapers at least seven days in advance of the meeting.
• 1825: The Board of Overseers voted that there shall be laid before the Board, at its annual January meeting, a statement of the expenses of the College during the preceding academic year, and an estimate of the Colleges expenses for the next year.
• 1826: The Board of Overseers voted to require that an annual report of the President of the University be presented to the Board for the information of its members. Articles 28 and 60 of the Statutes of the University require annual reports to the Board from the various academic departments, as well as the President of the University.
• 1834: The Board of Overseers requested that Harvard President Josiah Quincy prepare and publish a collection of all the Massachusetts constitutional articles and legislative enactments relative to the Board of Overseers and the Corporation, as well as all of the rules and regulations of the Overseers. It was published in the President's Annual Report for 1835.
• 1843: Massachusetts Legislature voted to open up membership in the Board of Overseers to clergymen of all denominations.
• 1851: Overseers formed committees for visiting the University's several graduate schools. An Act of the Massachusetts Legislature, which was accepted by the University, reorganized the membership of the Board of Overseers as follows: the Governor, Lt. Governor, Senate President, House Speaker, Secretary of the Board of Education, and the President and Treasurer of Harvard University would all serve as ex-officio members. Thirty other persons were to be chosen by joint ballot of the Massachusetts Senate and House in annual classes of five each, each class to hold office for six years. The distinction between clerical and lay members no longer existed. This Act went into effect in 1852.
• 1865: The Massachusetts Legislature voted to give certain Harvard alumni the right to elect the members of the Board of Overseers. The Act, which was accepted by the University and went into effect in 1866, abolished all ex-officio members of the Board except the President of the University. The six classes of Overseers created by the Act of 1851 were henceforth to be elected from residents of Massachusetts by graduates of the University who had either the A.B., A.M., or an honorary degree. In order to vote, Massachusetts resident alumni had to be present at the College on Commencement Day.
• 1880: An Act of the Massachusetts Legislature made non-residents of Massachusetts eligible for election to the Board of Overseers.
• 1889: The Board of Overseers reorganized its visiting committee structure to better perform its functions of visitation, advice, and counsel and to more adequately meet the needs of the modern Harvard University.
• 1891: Formal rules governing the election process for Overseer were first published. They include the requirement of one hundred signatures for nomination by certificate.
• 1902: An Act of the Massachusetts Legislature authorized the University to alter the franchise for Overseer.
• 1914: The number of signatures required for nomination by certificate of an Overseer candidate changed from one hundred to two hundred.
• 1915: The Governing Boards of Harvard University, with the authority granted to it by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1902, extended the right to vote for Overseers to holders of any Harvard degree.
• 1921: An Act of the Massachusetts Legislature authorizes the Governing Boards to adopt new rules and regulations for voting for Overseers. The right to vote in Overseers' election was extended, by means of a mail ballot, far beyond the relatively few alumni actually present at Harvard on Commencement Day.
• 1937: The Board of Overseers elected Jerome D. Greene to the newly established office of Assistant Secretary of the Board of Overseers. Greene held this position in addition to that of Secretary to the Corporation.
• 1938: Greene elected Secretary of the Board of Overseers. Thereafter, the Board has traditionally elected the Secretary to the Corporation to serve simultaneously as Secretary of the Board.
• 1940s: The modern Standing Committee structure of the Board of Overseers was established to help simplify the ever-increasing Visiting Committee system. Serving as coordinating committees for various related areas of the University, Standing Committees helped resolve conflicts of interest between visiting committees, identified common goals, and recognized, early on, various trends throughout the University.
• 1969: Immediately following the takeover of University Hall and in the wake of increasing social and political unrest on campus, the Board of Overseers established the Overseers' Long-Range Study Committee (LRSC). The LRSC proposed the creation of the University-wide Committee on Governance, which was established by President Pusey in the fall of 1969. This new Committee was charged with re-examining the purposes that the University should serve, the structure by which it functions, and helping the Governing Boards to improve the central governing processes.
• 1970: The Board of Overseers created the Office of the Secretary to the Visiting Committees to provide administrative and clerical support to the Visiting Committees. The University Committee on Governance is created as part of the University's ongoing efforts to address issues which led to the seizure of University Hall. The Committee's mandate is to review Harvard's institutional needs, as well as the organization and functions of the Governing Boards and the President's Office. In response to alumni demands for a greater voice in University governance, the Board of Overseers directed its Committee on Committee Assignments to review the role, membership, and procedures of the Visiting Committees. The Keppel Committee Report, so called after the chairman of the Committee on Committee Assignments, Francis Keppel, reaffirmed the important role of visiting committees as the main instrument to keep Overseers and alumni informed about and involved with the activities of the University.
• 1971: Board of Overseers implemented Keppel Committee recommendations and reorganized its visiting committee system and increased the number of committees to provide a more comprehensive review structure. The Board of Overseers and the Associated Harvard Alumni appointed the ad hoc Committee on Procedures for Nominating and Electing Overseers, also known as the Hoguet Committee after its chairman, Robert L. Hoguet, to consider and recommend possible revisions to the existing process.
• 1972: The Secretary of the Board of Overseers published a comprehensive booklet outlining the functions and procedures of Overseers' Visiting Committees and general information on the duties of Overseers and the administrative role of the Secretary's Office.
• 1973: As part of Overseer reforms to make the Board more helpful to the University, and in particular to make its visiting committees function more effectively, the Board created new "academic" and additional "functional" standing committees to oversee the visitation and inspection function of the Board. Visiting committees would now report directly to an appropriate standing committee, rather than to the Board's Executive Committee. Standing committees were able to devote more time to provide a thorough analysis of visiting committee reports, enabling them to identify significant specific and recurring problems.
• 1974: The Board of Overseers voted to require visiting committees to routinely question their respective departments as to steps being taken to increase the number of women faculty members, and that this information be reflected in the visiting committee report.
• 1975: "Training and Orientation" course for Overseers and non-Overseer visiting committee chairmen was instituted at the behest of the Executive Committee of the Board of Overseers. The Secretary of the Board and Office of the Governing Boards staff developed and ran the training program. In response to growing Overseer dissatisfaction concerning the Board's role or lack thereof in the governance of the University, the Executive Committee of the Board created the Committee on the Structure and Function of the Board of Overseers. The Committee was known as the Gilbert Committee after chairwoman Helen Homans Gilbert.
• 1977: The Committee on the Structure and Function of the Board of Overseers (Gilbert Committee) published its first report calling for a reorganization of Visiting Committees that would strengthen the Overseers' role of visitation and counsel by providing for a more thorough visitation process. The new Standing Committee on Visitation replaced the Board's Committee on Committee Assignments.
• 1978: The Gilbert Committee published a second report reaffirming and describing the structure and respective roles of both the Corporation and the Overseers. The Board of Overseers established the Alumni Affairs and Development Standing Committee to help improve relations between the Harvard Alumni Association and the University Development Office and to encourage broader and consistent alumni involvement with the University. The University first established definite guidelines for investment in companies with operations in South Africa. The full Board of Overseers delegates its authority of consent in matters related to Corporation appointments to the Board's Executive Committee.
• 1979: The Board of Overseers fully implemented the series of reforms recommended by the Gilbert Committee, which included: the appointment of better informed visiting committee members, a greater role for the standing committees in the reporting system, visit follow-up reports, and more assistance from Office of the Governing Boards staff to help committees improve the quality of their reports. The Board's Executive Committee appointed the Special Committee to Study the Appointments Process in Harvard University to reconsider the function of the Governing Boards in the review of appointments. The Committee is known as the Doermann Committee, after its chairman Humphrey Doermann.
• 1980s: Calls for reforming the process by which Overseer candidates were selected and elected went out in the mid 1980s as a growing number of alumni demanded that Board members oppose the University's continued investment in apartheid South Africa.
• 1982: The Harvard Corporation begins to devote more of its time to planning and strategic issues and less to working on operating problems, sending a clear signal to the Doermann Committee that the Corporation, like the Board of Overseers, wanted a streamlined appointments review process. Doermann Committee issued its report, finding the Governing Boards' involvement to be too superficial, the quality and amount of support documentation submitted by the Faculties to be insufficient, and the delay in confirming appointments too long. The Committee recommends a revision of the appointment process, the most significant of which was the creation of a joint Corporation-Overseer committee to review appointments. The Overseers' Executive Committee establishes the Joint Committee on Appointments of the Governing Boards of Harvard University.
• 1984: The Overseers' Visitation Subcommittee on Functioning of the Visitation Committee issued a series of recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the Overseers' Visiting Committee system. In particular, the subcommittee was concerned about the lack of professional expertise among visiting committee members regarding their assigned subjects. The Visitation Subcommittee on Visitation to the Schools is created to consider and develop ways to improve the visitation function with respect to the graduate and professional schools by reforming the means by which the Overseers' carry out their constitutional inspection-evaluation duty.
• 1985: The Visitation Committee implemented changes giving standing committees responsibility for appointing individual visiting committee members and for the direct oversight of the visitation process. Standing committees were also asked to appoint at least one Overseer or former Overseer to each visiting committee, who would then be able to comment directly to the full Board on their committee experiences and, if necessary, comment upon any discrepancies existing between the report and response. The Board's Executive Committee called for a joint study by the Board of Overseers and the executives of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) to consider what steps needed to be taken to strengthen and improve the identification and nomination of qualified candidates for Overseer. Following the model of the Joint Committee on Appointments, the Board of Overseers and Corporation established a Joint Committee on Inspection. The University begins to apply a policy of selective divestment based upon careful review of each portfolio company's record on South Africa.
• 1986: Continued disappointment with the slate of candidates for Overseers led the recently formed Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni/ae Against Apartheid (HRAAA) to sponsor three pro-divestment petition candidates for Overseer. One of its candidates was elected. The Executive Committee of the Board of Overseers established the Committee to Study the Nomination and Election Processes for Overseers. The committee, which consisted of Overseers and members of the HAA, was known as the Young Committee after its chairman, Judge William C. Young. Its mandate was to determine if the election processes for Overseers were fair, if they allowed for a diverse choice of candidates, and if they effectively met the governance needs of the University.
• 1988: Report of the Committee to Study the Nomination and Election Processes for Overseers (Young Committee) published. In an effort to educate and invigorate the alumni electorate, the report recommended increasing the number of members on the HAA Nominating Committee and requiring the HAA Nominating Committee to issue formal reports detailing its candidate search procedures and criteria. The Young Committee's report and recommendations were accepted and fully implemented by the Board of Overseers in June 1989. The Joint Study Committee of the Governing Boards of Harvard University on the University's Role as an Investor in Relation to South Africa is established.
• 1992: The Board of Overseers voted to establish a committee to review the procedures by which the Board renders its "counsel and consent" with respect to the Corporation's election of its own members, meaning the President, Fellows, and Treasurer. The committee was directed to review the Board's "counsel and consent" role and consider possible modifications to these functions, including any necessary amendments to the Board's bylaws.
• 1994: The Overseers' Committee on Visitation, under the direction of its chairwoman, Hannah Gray, conducted a review of the visitation process to ascertain the state and future of the visiting committee system. Among its many pronouncements, the Gray Report called for the abolition of the Standing Committee on Visitation and its restructuring as a sub-committee of the Board's Executive Committee.

The following is an organizational, functional, and legal history of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College. It is only a summary and is intended to serve as a general outline. More detailed history notes are found at the series and subseries level in this finding aid. In addition, numerous published and unpublished sources on the history and development of Harvard University and the role of the Board of Overseers are easily accessible and readily available to the general public. The bibliography at the end of this finding aid offers a listing of some of these resources. Researchers should also consult Harvard's on-line integrated library system (HOLLIS), Harvard's Online Archival Search Information System (OASIS), and the Harvard/Radcliffe Online Historical Reference Shelf for web access to primary and secondary historical sources. Please contact Reference Staff for more assistance.

The Board of Overseers is one of Harvard's two Governing Boards, the other being the President and Fellows, more commonly known as the Corporation. It consists of thirty alumni of the University elected at large by fellow degree holders in annual classes of five members elected for six-year terms. The President and Treasurer of the University are ex officio members of Board. All degree holders, including recipients of honorary degrees, are entitled to vote in Overseers elections. Overseers' principal duties are visitation, counsel, and consent.

The Board of Overseers is the senior of the two governing boards, as it was first appointed in 1637 and then formally founded by an Act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1642 to oversee College affairs. Originally, the membership of the Board consisted of the President of the College, the Governor, Deputy Governor, and all magistrates of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the ordained ministers of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester.

The Charter of 1650, granted by the General Court at the request of Harvard's first president, Henry Dunster, recognized the College as a Corporation consisting of the President, five Fellows, and the Treasurer, and defined the relations of the Corporation to the older Board of Overseers. The Charter, however, failed to clearly delineate the powers between the two Governing Boards, and in 1657 the Board of Overseers petitioned the General Court for a clarification. The Appendix of 1657, added by the General Court to the Charter of 1650, made clear that the Corporation was expected to act as the superior governing board with responsibility for decisions regarding the order and work of the College. However, no Corporation vote, except in emergency cases, was to be considered valid without the consent of the Overseers. In addition to granting consent, the Overseers' primary concern was to be informing themselves about the welfare of the College.

From 1686 to 1707, the Board of Overseers was suspended as a result of a struggle between the Crown and the provincial government over colonial legislative authority. England considered the Charter of 1650 null and void since it had not been granted by the King. A number of interim Charters were proposed and governance of the College shifted between the President and Corporation. However, in 1707 the Charter of 1650 was restored and with it the Board of Overseers were restored as organized under the Act of 1642, with one exception, the Councilors of the Province (and after 1775 of the State) took the place of the Magistrates of the Colony.

During the 19th century, a series of Acts by the Massachusetts Legislature reorganized the membership of the Board of Overseers, did away with the distinction between clerical and lay members, and extended the right to vote in Overseers elections. By 1865, all ex-officio members of the Board were abolished, save for the President of the University, and a total of thirty Overseers constituted the Board. Overseers were elected from residents of Massachusetts by graduates of the University who had either the A.B., A.M., or an honorary degree. In order to vote, Massachusetts resident alumni had to be present at the College on Commencement. Before the end of the century non-resident alumni were eligible for election to and voting for the Board of Overseers. In 1915, the right to vote for Overseers was extended to holders of any Harvard degree and finally in 1921, the right to vote in Overseers' elections was extended beyond the few alumni actually present at Harvard on Commencement Day, to all alumni by means of a mail ballot.

As mentioned earlier, the principal functions of the Board of Overseers are that of visitation and counsel. Originally, under the Act of 1642, the General Court retained the common law power to visit and inspect all areas of the University to ensure the proper administration of charitable funds handled by Harvard. After the Charter of 1650, which led to the separation of Harvard's governmental structure from the colonial legislature, the visitation function was bestowed on the Overseers. In 1780, the adoption of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts confirmed the visitation power conferred on the Overseers by the Charter of 1650. The Board carries out its principle duties of visitation and counsel through its numerous Visiting and Standing Committees.

In the early part of the 18th century, the Board began the systematic exercise of its visitation power through a committee appointed to inquire about the state of the college. The committee reported its findings to the full Board, which would then offer advice and counsel to the President of the College, the Corporation, and the colonial and later the state legislature. By the first third of the 19th century, the Board of Overseers had voted to require annual reports from the President, Treasurer, and Department heads of the College. In addition, the number of the Board's general and special committees to inquire, visit, and examine the College had increased ten fold.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the growth in size of the College's faculty, student body, academic departments, and physical plant placed new and heavy demands on the Board's visiting committees, which were increasingly overwhelmed by committee work, lack of expertise, and/or lack of interest by members. A more effective visiting process was needed and in 1889, the Board of Overseers reorganized its visiting committee structure to better perform its functions of visitation, advice, and counsel and to more adequately meet the needs of the modern University. The reorganization included amending the Board's rules and bylaws to redefine who and how many could serve on committees, clearly stating the duties and areas of responsibility of the various committees, and establishing reporting schedules.

In the years following the reorganization of the Overseers' visiting committees system in 1888-1889, there occurred a significant increase in the number and type of committees and in the volume of the routine administrative, clerical, and financial duties of the Board's Secretary. In 1937, in order to ease the administrative load carried by then Secretary Winthrop H. Wade, the Board of Overseers elected Jerome D. Greene to the newly established office of Assistant Secretary of the Board of Overseers. Prior to 1938, the Secretary of the Board had traditionally been a teaching fellow, an alumnus, and/or a member of the Board of Overseers. The purpose of the new office was to provide administrative and clerical support to the Secretary of the Board. In particular, it was to assist the visiting committees in the performance of their duties. Greene held this position in addition to that of Secretary to the Corporation. The following year Wade retired and Greene was elected Secretary of the Board of Overseers. Thereafter, the Board of Overseers has traditionally elected the Secretary to the Corporation to serve simultaneously as Secretary of the Board.

The Overseers' visiting committee system as reorganized in 1888-1889 remained for the most part unchanged, save for the creation of new visiting committees, until the 1970s. In the late 1960s, student protests and political unrest at Harvard were of great concern to Harvard Alumni who wanted their voices to be heard as well. In addition, many Overseers and alumni had increasingly become frustrated with the organization and functioning of the visiting committee system, as they carried a greater burden of routine administrative tasks and perceived a decline in the impact and usefulness of their committee reports.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the Board of Overseers continued to address Overseer and alumni dissatisfaction concerning the Board's role or lack thereof in the governance of the University, and in particular the part that visitation played in governance. A number of special committees were appointed to reconsider the role, membership, and procedures of the visiting committees and to review nomination and election procedures for Overseers as well. Among the numerous reforms that have been implemented over the years are the appointment of more experts to visiting committees, a greater role for the standing committees in the reporting system, the requirement of follow-up reports after visits, greater assistance from the staff of the Office of the Governing Boards to help committees improve the quality of their reports, efforts to broaden the search for a more diverse slate of Overseer candidates, and programs to educate and invigorate the alumni electorate.

As recently as 1994, the Board conducted an in depth review of the visitation process in order to ascertain the state and future of the visiting committee system. The resulting report re-affirmed the important work of the visiting committees and recommended that committees begin to concentrate more on long-term planning and ways in which to connect the work of their departments with others throughout the university. This effort coincided with a University-wide campaign to integrate and build stronger ties among Harvard's numerous schools, faculties, and administrative offices.

From the guide to the Records of the Board of Overseers, 1825-1998 (bulk), 1650-1998 (inclusive)., (Harvard University Archives)

The Harvard College Board of Overseers was legally established by the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1642. It is one of Harvard's two governing boards, the other being the President and Fellows of Harvard College (often referred to as "the Corporation"), and now consists of thirty members who are elected by alumni to serve 6-year terms. In addition, Harvard's President and Treasurer serve as ex officio members. Broadly speaking, the function of the Board of Overseers is to encourage the University to maintain the highest attainable standards as a place of learning. To do this, Overseers serve on various standing and visiting committees at the University, through which they conduct research on a range of topics and advise academic and administrative bodies on their strategic directions, priorities, and planning. The Overseers direct the visitation process by which Harvard's schools and departments are periodically reviewed and assessed, and they advise University leaders, including the President. In conjunction with the Corporation, the Overseers approve high-level teaching and administrative appointments. They are also charged with conferring degrees. The Board of Overseers as a whole typically meets five times during the academic year, including a meeting held each year at the time of Harvard's Commencement. At these meetings, the Board hears formal reports from various standing committees and senior University Administrators, including the President. In addition to these meetings of the Board as a whole, individual Overseers meet on separate occasions with the visiting committees and standing committees to which they belong.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Board of Overseers was involved in a wide range of decisions related to Harvard College, actively shaping its academic priorities and administrative decisions in conjunction with the Corporation. The Board's membership was decidedly different then than it is today, though, as it included (per the General Court's Act of 1642) the Governor, Deputy Governor and the magistrates of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, as well as "the teaching elders of the six next adjoining towns, viz. Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester." For decades following the American Revolution, the membership criteria changed only slightly and the Board included representatives from the government of the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts: the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Counselors, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, in addition to the aforementioned "teaching elders." Significant changes in the Board of Overseers' composition occurred in 1810, when it was decided that some of the Board's members should be elected, in order to draw upon the expertise and experience of those outside the Board's traditional constituency. An act was passed in March 1810 which declared that, although the core membership would remain the same, the Board of Overseers should also include "fifteen ministers of Congregational churches and fifteen laymen, all inhabitants within the state, to be elected." Although this change in the constitution of the Board of Overseers would prove controversial, and faced serious opposition in 1812 when it was temporarily repealed, by 1814 it had become the established criterion for the Board's membership. Not until the General Court's Act of April 28, 1865, which separated the Overseers from the control of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, would the membership of the Board of Overseers undergo another structural change.

The Secretary of the Board of Overseers is an elected officer of the Board and serves as its chief administrator. The primary duties and responsibilities of the Secretary were laid out by a series of Board of Overseers votes in the early eighteenth century and include the following: notifying Overseers of all regular and special meetings, recording and circulating votes and proceedings of the Board among all members, preparing and furnishing members of the Board with agendas and dockets, and communicating Overseers' votes, routine matters, and other information to the Corporation. In addition, the Secretary and other staff plan and arrange meetings of the full Board, provide administrative assistance to the Board's Standing Committees, provide advice and counsel to Overseers (in particular to the President of the Board and committee chairmen), conduct research and prepare background materials for committee meetings, inform Overseers about Governing Boards' policies and procedures, and facilitate communication between the Board and the Corporation, University administrators, Faculty, students, and alumni.

Prior to 1938, the Secretary of the Board was traditionally a teaching fellow, a Harvard alumnus, and/or a member of the Board of Overseers. However, as the twentieth century progressed and the Secretary's responsibilities and demands grew, the need to professionalize the position became apparent. In the years following the reorganization of the Overseers' Visiting Committees system in 1888-1889, there had been a significant increase in the number and type of committees, as well as in the volume of the routine administrative, clerical, and financial duties of the Secretary. In 1937, in order to ease the administrative load carried by then-Secretary Winthrop H. Wade, the Board of Overseers elected Jerome D. Greene to the newly established office of Assistant Secretary of the Board of Overseers. The purpose of this new office was to provide administrative and clerical support to the Secretary of the Board and to assist the Visiting Committees in performing their duties. Greene held this position, in addition to that of Secretary to the Corporation. In 1938 Wade retired and Greene was elected Secretary of the Board of Overseers. From that time forward, the Board of Overseers has traditionally elected the Secretary to the Corporation to serve simultaneously in that role and as Secretary to the Board of Overseers.

From the guide to the Meeting minutes maintained by the Secretary, 1775-1816, (Harvard University Archives)

The Harvard College Board of Overseers was legally established by the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1642. It is one of Harvard's two governing boards, the other being the President and Fellows of Harvard College (often referred to as "the Corporation"), and now consists of thirty members who are elected by alumni to serve 6-year terms. In addition, Harvard's President and Treasurer serve as ex officio members. Broadly speaking, the function of the Board of Overseers is to encourage the University to maintain the highest attainable standards as a place of learning. To do this, Overseers serve on various standing and visiting committees at the University, through which they conduct research on a range of topics and advise academic and administrative bodies on their strategic directions, priorities, and planning. The Overseers direct the visitation process by which Harvard's schools and departments are periodically reviewed and assessed, and they advise University leaders, including the President. In conjunction with the Corporation, the Overseers approve high-level teaching and administrative appointments. They are also charged with conferring degrees. The Board of Overseers as a whole typically meets five times during the academic year, including a meeting held each year at the time of Harvard's Commencement. At these meetings, the Board hears formal reports from various standing committees and senior University Administrators, including the President. In addition to these meetings of the Board as a whole, individual Overseers meet on separate occasions with the visiting committees and standing committees to which they belong.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Board of Overseers was involved in a wide range of decisions related to Harvard College, actively shaping its academic priorities and administrative decisions in conjunction with the Corporation. The Board's membership was decidedly different then than it is today, as it included (per the Massachusetts General Court's Act of 1642) the Governor, Deputy Governor and the magistrates of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, as well as "the teaching elders of the six next adjoining towns, viz. Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester." For decades following the American Revolution, the membership criteria changed only slightly and the Board included representatives from the government of the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts: the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Counselors, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, in addition to the aforementioned "teaching elders." Significant changes in the Board of Overseers' composition occurred in 1810, when it was decided that some of the Board's members should be elected, in order to draw upon the expertise and experience of those outside the Board's traditional constituency. An act was passed in March 1810 which declared that, although the core membership would remain the same, the Board of Overseers should also include "fifteen ministers of Congregational churches and fifteen laymen, all inhabitants within the state, to be elected." Although this change in the constitution of the Board of Overseers would prove somewhat controversial, and faced serious opposition in 1812 when it was temporarily repealed, by 1814 it had become the established criterion for the Board's membership. Not until the Massachusetts General Court's Act of April 28, 1865, which separated the Overseers from the control of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, would the membership of the Board of Overseers undergo another structural change.

Nathan Prince (1698-1748) led an adventurous and often tumultuous life. Although educated at Harvard College and employed as one of its Tutors for almost twenty years, he was ultimately forced out of that position because of alleged intemperance and slanderous remarks about his colleagues. After his departure from the College, Prince eventually accepted a position as missionary to the Miskito Indians on the island of Roatán. He died within a year of his arrival.

Nathan Prince was born to Samuel Prince and Mercy (Hinckley) Prince on November 30, 1698 in Sandwich, Massachusetts. He was their twelfth child. Prince attended Harvard College and graduated with the class of 1718; his brother, Thomas Prince, had graduated with the class of 1707. Immediately after graduation, he moved to Bristol, Rhode Island, where he kept school for a year. The following year Nathan kept school in Plymouth, Massachusetts. By the fall of 1720, though, Prince had returned to Cambridge, to renew his studies at Harvard. He received an A.M. from Harvard in 1721 and was recommended by the College's President, John Leverett, to preach at Westerly, Rhode Island. He preached at Westerly until April 1722, when he left to preach at Nantucket and Yarmouth.

In April of 1723, Prince was appointed a Tutor at Harvard College, a position to "be holden without Limitation of time." He taught at Harvard until his dismissal in 1742, and served as a Fellow from 1728 through 1742. Many of Prince's peers believed him to be a remarkable scholar of mathematics and natural philosophy, although he published only one scientific article (on the Aurora Borealis). John Eliot asserted in his Biographical Dictionary that Prince was "in mathematicks and natural philosophy superiour to any man in New England." Prince was also widely known, though, to be hot-tempered and unreliable, and these qualities were likely contributing factors to his being overlooked as a candidate for the Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. When John Winthrop was chosen for the position in 1738, following the resignation of Isaac Greenwood (due to intemperance), Prince was deeply disappointed. The rest of his years at Harvard were tumultuous.

From 1738 onwards, Harvard students and faculty appear to have become increasingly upset by Prince and his behavior. Complaints against him were filed regularly, but it was unclear which, if either, of Harvard's governing bodies – the Corporation and the Board of Overseers – had the authority to dismiss him. Ultimately the Board of Overseers filed the series of complaints against Prince which led to his dismissal. They accused him of intemperance, disturbing the peace, contemptuous speech towards the President and Fellows, stirring up strife, ridiculing his peers, and numerous other misdeeds. In February of 1741/2 the Overseers found Prince guilty of all these charges, and although he appealed their decision they refused his appeal. He then appealed to the General Court for assistance, publishing The Constitution and Government of Harvard-College in an effort to prove that his dismissal violated Harvard's constitution, but the Court also refused to hear his argument.

Following his dismissal, Prince fled to Boston, where after some difficulties establishing himself he was eventually allowed, in February 1742/3, to set up a school. The school was unsuccessful, and a year later Prince relocated once again, to Stratford, Connecticut, home of his brother Joseph. Prince taught in Stratford for several years before accepting a position as schoolmaster on the man-of-war Vigilant. He taught aboard the ship until it landed in Lisbon, Portugal in the summer of 1746, when he learned that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel wished to employ him as a missionary to the Miskito (then called Mosquito) Indians. Prince accepted their offer and traveled on to Portsmouth and London, England for further instructions.

On March 5, 1747/8, Prince sailed for the West Indies aboard the Duke of Bedford. Although the ship was damaged in a storm, it safely arrived in Jamaica in June 1748. The Governor instructed Prince to settle on the "Island of Rattan" (Roatán), which he apparently did in the last month of his life. Nathan Prince died in Roatán on July 25, 1748.

From the guide to the Records related to the charges against and defense made by Nathan Prince, 1740-1742, (Harvard University Archives)

The Harvard College Board of Overseers was legally established by the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1642. It is one of Harvard's two governing boards, the other being the President and Fellows of Harvard College (often referred to as "the Corporation"), and now consists of thirty members who are elected by alumni to serve 6-year terms. In addition, Harvard's President and Treasurer serve as ex officio members. Broadly speaking, the function of the Board of Overseers is to encourage the University to maintain the highest attainable standards as a place of learning. To do this, Overseers serve on various standing and visiting committees at the University, through which they conduct research on a range of topics and advise academic and administrative bodies on their strategic directions, priorities, and planning. The Overseers direct the visitation process by which Harvard's schools and departments are periodically reviewed and assessed, and they advise University leaders, including the President. In conjunction with the Corporation, the Overseers approve high-level teaching and administrative appointments. They are also charged with conferring degrees. The Board of Overseers as a whole typically meets five times during the academic year, including a meeting held each year at the time of Harvard's Commencement. At these meetings, the Board hears formal reports from various standing committees and senior University Administrators, including the President. In addition to these meetings of the Board as a whole, individual Overseers meet on separate occasions with the visiting committees and standing committees to which they belong.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Board of Overseers was involved in a wide range of decisions related to Harvard College, actively shaping its academic priorities and administrative decisions in conjunction with the Corporation. The Board's membership was decidedly different then than it is today, though, as it included (per the General Court's Act of 1642) the Governor, Deputy Governor and the magistrates of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, as well as "the teaching elders of the six next adjoining towns, viz. Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester." For decades following the American Revolution, the membership criteria changed only slightly and the Board included representatives from the government of the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts: the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Counselors, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, in addition to the aforementioned "teaching elders." Significant changes in the Board of Overseers' composition occurred in 1810, when it was decided that some of the Board's members should be elected, in order to draw upon the expertise and experience of those outside the Board's traditional constituency. An act was passed in March 1810 which declared that, although the core membership would remain the same, the Board of Overseers should also include "fifteen ministers of Congregational churches and fifteen laymen, all inhabitants within the state, to be elected." Although this change in the constitution of the Board of Overseers would prove somewhat controversial, and faced serious opposition in 1812 when it was temporarily repealed, by 1814 it had become the established criterion for the Board's membership. Not until the General Court's Act of April 28, 1865, which separated the Overseers from the control of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, would the membership of the Board of Overseers undergo another structural change.

From the guide to the Formal meeting minutes, 1707-1982, (Harvard University Archives)