Harvard University.

This is Harvard in 1808 from the vantage point of Cambridge Common. During this time, the governance of Harvard was shifting from the Calvinists to the Unitarians, a reflection of the split in the Congregational church and a move away from the doctrine of “original sin” to the adoption of more liberal theological beliefs and practices. This coincided with the maturing of merchant capitalism in New England and the eventual emergence of a new Boston elite that was tied to overseas trade, domestic commerce, industry, and finance. By the 1820s this new elite--comprised of bankers, financiers, merchants, industrialists--had taken over the Harvard Corporation and the university became a place where they sent their dollars and sons in a conscious effort to create an institution in their image. Harvard became their most important cultural institution.