Harvard's First Master
The college's first head, its first scandal, and a kitchen that went on the record.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
Two hundred strokes, over about two hours, with a walnut cudgel a yard long. That is Governor John Winthrop's count of a beating at this new college in 1639. The master, Nathaniel Eaton, had quarreled with his assistant, Nathaniel Briscoe, who had been there no more than three days. He sent for the cudgel, "big enough to have killed a horse," and had two men hold Briscoe. Briscoe began to pray, thinking he would be murdered.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
Johnston Gate, Harvard Yard, by Harvard station. The Yard is normally open to walkers and free, but its gates close to anyone without a Harvard ID during some protests and events. In 1915 a tablet was placed on the Yard fence beside Wadsworth House to mark the site of the house he occupied.
Sources
- John Winthrop, Winthrop's Journal, ed. Hosmer (1908), Internet Archive
- Harvard Crimson, 1940 Seen as Real Harvard Tercentenary (1940)
- Harvard Crimson, In the School of Tyrannus (2014)
- Harvard Crimson, New Tablet in Yard Fence (1915)
- Harvard University, History of the Presidency
- Massachusetts Historical Society, Winthrop Papers, Endecott to Winthrop, October 1639
- Wikipedia, Nathaniel Eaton
- Boston Globe, Harvard Yard temporarily closed (2025)
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