YALE UNIVERSITY, New Haven, Conn. From the time of the first settlement of the New Haven Colony in 1638, the establishment of a college there was contemplated. It was not until 1700-01, however, that definite action was taken by 10 ministers of Connecticut, and a charter was obtained in 1701 for the establish ment of the Collegiate School of Connecticut. This school was first located at Saybrook and Abraham Pierson was the first rector. In 1716 the school was removed to New Haven, and in 1718 the name was changed to Yale College, in honor of Elihu Yale (q.v.), who had given largely to the Collegiate School. The first building was also completed in 1718. In 1745 a new charter was granted making the full name of the corporation "The President and Fellows of Yale College?' Until after the Revolution the college received occasional grants of money from the colonial government ; in 1792 the State made a grant of about $30,000, and the governor, lieutenant-governor and six senators were made members ex-officio of the corporation. In 1795 Timothy Dwight (q.v.) became president, and during his administration the college attained a higher degree of pros perity than ever before; the college grounds were extended; permanent professorships were established and the formation of separate pro fessional schools planned. The Medical School, however, was the only one established (1813) during President Dwight's lifetime. The Di vinity School was organized in 1822 and the Law School in 1824, though instruction in the ology had been given since the beginning of the college and instruction in law for some years prior to 1824. The Sheffield Scientific School was established in 1847 and the School of Fine Arts in 1866. The elective system was adopted during the administration of Noah Porter, and from 1886-99 the college still fur ther extended its course and doubled its number of students ; the name was changed to Yale University in 1887. In 1872 provision was made by the State legislature for the substitution of graduates in the place of the six State senators in the corporation, so that the corporation now consists of 10 Congregational ministers, the suc cessors of the founders, six representatives of the alumni, the governor and the lieutenant governor of Connecticut. In October 1901 the
bicentennial anniversary was celebrated with ap propriate ceremonies on the university grounds. There were 4,691 Yale graduates present at the anniversary ceremonies and in addition 311 former students, not graduates; and 147 hold ers of higher degrees from Yale. The Presi dent of the United States, representatives from every leading American university and college and from many foreign universities were also present. The exercises included addresses by alumni and distinguished guests, a procession in which graduates and undergraduates took part, the scenes in the history of the university given by the students' Dramatic Society, and the dedication of Woodbridge Hall, the administration building.
The university includes in its schools of instruction Yale College or the Academical De partment, the Sheffield Scientific School, the Graduate School, the School of Fine Arts, the School of the Forestry School and the schools of Religion, Medicine and Law. The university library, the Peabody Museum of Nat ural History, the Astronomical Observatory and several other adjuncts to the university are or ganized independently of the separate depart ments. The undergraduate course in the col lege covers four years. During the years 1917 18 the individual courses stood arranged in 24 numbered groups, in four main divisions, as follows: (I) Language, Literature and the Arts; comprising (i) Latin; (ii) Greek; (iii) Classical Archaeology; (iv) Biblical Litera ture and Semitic Languages; (v) French; (vi) Italian; (vii) Spanish; (viii) German; (ix) English (including English Literature and Com position) • (x) The Fine Arts and (xi) Music.