The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

Burning of Harvard-College.

CAMBRIDGE, January 15. 1764.

Last night Harvard College was on fire, since its foundation. In the middle of a very tempestuous night, a severe cold storm of snow attended with high wind, we were awaked by the alarm of fire. Harvard-Hall, the first of our buildings, and the repository of our most valuable treasures, the public LIBRARY and Philosophical APPARATUS, was seen in flames. As it was a time of vacation, in which the students were all dispersed, not a single person was left in any of the Colleges, except two or three in that part of Massachusetts most distant from Harvard, where the fire could not be perceived till the whole surrounding air began to be illuminated by it: When it was discovered from the town, it had risen to a degree of violence that defied all opposition. It is conjectured to have begun in a beam under the hearth in the library, where a fire had been kept for the use of the General Court, now residing & sitting here, by reason of the Small-Pox at Boston: from thence it burst out into the Library. The books easily submitted to the fury of the flame, which with a rapid and irresistible progress made its way into the Apparatus-Chamber, and spreading thro' the whole building, in a very short time left nothing but the bare walls. The other Colleges, Stoughton-Hall and Massachusetts-Hall, were in the utmost hazard of sharing the same fate. The wind driving the flaming cinders directly upon their roofs, they blazed out several times in different places; nor could they have been saved by all the help the town could afford, had it not been for the assistance of the Gentlemen of the General Court, among whom his Excellency the Governor was very active, who notwithstanding the extreme rigor of the season, exerted themselves in supplying the town engine with water, which they were obliged to fetch from a distance, the College pumps being then useless. Even the new and beautiful Hollis Hall, tho' it was on the windward side, hardly escaped. It stood so near to Harvard, that the flames actually seized it, and without immediate help must have carried it. But by the vigorous efforts of the assistants, the ruin was confined to Harvard Hall; and there, besides the destruction of the private property of those who had chambers in it, the public loss is very great; perhaps, irreparable. The Library and the Apparatus, which for many years had been growing and were now judged to be the best furnished in America, are annihilated. The Library contained near five thousand Volumes, all which were consumed, except a few Books in the Hands of the Members of the House, &c. The value of the whole apparatus could not be less than 300 l. Sterling:--ALL DESTROYED!

* Harvard Hall was founded A. D. 1672.

Cambridge, Jan. 26 1764. As the General assembly have this day cheerfully and unanimously voted to rebuild Harvard-Hall, it encourages us to hope, that the LIBRARY and APPARATUS will also be repaired by the private munificence of those who wish well to America, have a regard for New-England, and know the importance of literature to the Church and State.