INDIAN COLLEGE

The Indian College was an educational institution established in the 1640s at Harvard College in Cambridge, colonial Massachusetts, created to train Native American students. Its two-story brick building, completed in 1656 and located in Harvard Yard, could accommodate about twenty students but was initially used for English students since no Native Americans attended at first. The building housed a printing press that produced the Eliot Indian Bible of 1663, the first Bible in any language printed in British America and the first full Bible translation into a Native American language, with contributions from James Printer, Cockenoe, Job Nesuton, and John Sassamon. The college was funded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, and Harvard promised free tuition and housing to Native American students. Only about four to five Native American students attended, including Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first known Native American Harvard graduate, Joel Hiacoomes, John Wompas, and Eleazar. The college closed in 1693, and its building was demolished, with bricks reused for Stoughton Hall. In 1997, a plaque was dedicated to commemorate its history, and in 2009 archaeological remains, including printing press parts, were uncovered.