Yale Class of 1963 - 50th Reunion

TIMELINE OF SELECTED EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF YALE

Dynamic version. See also: Landmarks in Yale's History (Illustrated)

1701	Proposals for Erecting an UNIVERSITY in the Renowned Colony of Connecticut
1701-1718	The Collegiate School, later named Yale College, is founded by ten Connecticut ministers at a meeting in Branford, near New Haven.
Oct 9 1701	"AN ACT FOR LIBERTY TO ERECT A COLLEGIATE SCHOOL," wherein Youth may be instructed in the Arts and Sciences who thorough the blessings of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State, passed by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut.
Oct 16 1701	Major James Fitch of Plainfield, one of the Governor's Assistants, offered to give a farm of 657 acres and building materials for farther promoating, of this God pleasing worke. . . ." The colonial Assembly voted "£120 in country pay, to be paid annually. ''
Nov 11 1701	The Trustees met in Saybrook and voted to locate the School there with Rev. Mr. Pierson as Rector.
Mar 1702	Jacob Heminway, first student, received at the Rector's house in Killingworth.
Sep 16 1702	The first commencement held in Saybrook at the house of the Rev. Thomas Buckingham, Trustee. Degree of Master of Arts ad eundem conferred on four graduates of Harvard; Nathaniel Chauncey awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts.
Sep 30 1702	The first tutor appointed to assist the Rector.
Sep 15 1703	The degree of Bachelor of Arts first conferred for work in course.
Oct 21 1703	The Governor and Council granted permission to the Trustees "for the raising such a summe or summes within this Colonie by a brief or such like method as shall be needfull for procuring and upholding a tutor, and for further promoting of the said school by building or otherwise. . . ."
1707	After operating temporarily in the Rector's home in Killingworth, the School moves to Saybrook.
Mar 5 1707	Death of Rector Pierson
Sep 9 1708	The "Saybrook Platform" drawn up by Synod composed of eight Trustees, four other ministers, and four laymen.
May 22 1711	Letter from Jeremiah Dummer (B.A. Harvard 1699 ), Agent in London of the Province of Massachusetts 1710-1721 and of Connecticut Colony 1712-1730, to Rev. James Pierpont mentioned "Mr. Yale, formerly Governor of Fort George in the Indies, has got a prodigious estate. . . . He told me lately, that he intended to bestow a charity upon some college in Oxford. But I think he should much rather do it to your college, seeing he is a New England and I think a Connecticut man. . . ."
Oct 1712	Under title of "An Act for encouragement of Learning" the Connecticut General Assembly voted "That the collegiate school at Seybrook . . . shall receive this present year out of the Colony treasury the sum of one hundred pounds . . . instead of one hundred and twenty pounds in pay formerly granted to the said school."
May 5 1713	Dummer wrote: "The Library I am collecting for your Colledge comes on well . . . and Mr. Yale has done something, tho very little considering his Estate and particular relation to your Collony."
Jul 26 1714	Tutor Noyes at Saybrook wrote Rector Andrew at Milford concerning the publication of "theses and A Catalogue, as in other Schoolse." "We had a very valuable and considerable Library of Choice Books Sent to us."
May 1715	The Connecticut General Assembly ordered "That for the Encouragement of so good a work as building a Convenient house for sd School A brief be sent unto the several Towns and Parrishes in this Colony for ye asking the Contribution of the well affected to Religion and Learning among us. . . ."
Oct 1715	The Assembly voted that from the sale of 105,793 acres of land "there shall be paid five hundred pounds to the trustees of the Collegiate School, for the building a College house. . . ."
Sep 12 1716	The Trustees voted to remove the Collegiate School to New Haven "as a very Convenient place for for which the Most Liberal Donations are given. . . ." Hartford trustees continued struggle to locate the School at Hartford.
1716-1718	Some students enrolled at Wethersfield under Tutor Elisha Williams.
1716	Yale trustees vote to move the School from Saybrook to New Haven "as a very Convenient place for it, and for which the Most Liberal Donations are given."
Apr 5 1717	The Trustees "agreed and ordered, that, the Building of a Collegiate School and also A House for a Rector in New-Haven be undertaken with all convenient Speed. "It is Agreed and Voted that the Honourable or Governour with or Deputy Govenr be intreated to favour us with their advice concerning the Architechtonick part of the Building of the Colkegiate House and Rectors House." Committee of Trustees appointed "to inspect, order and direct e Buildings aforesd. . . .Mr. Henry Caner engaged as builder.
Sep 11 1717	First commencement in New Haven
Oct 8 1717	The first building raised. Partially removed in November, 1775, kitchen and dining rooms retained until October, 1782.
Oct 31 1717	Colony grant distributed by Trustees on basis of student enrollment-13 in New Haven, 14 in Wethersfield, and 4 at Saybrook.
Jan 14 1718	Rev. Cotton Mather (B.A. Harvard 1678) wrote to Elihu Yale of London regarding the needs of the College: "Sir, though you have your felicities in your family, which I pray God continue and multiply, yet certainly, if what is forming at New Haven might wear the name of YALE COLLEGE, it would be better an a name of sons and daughters. And your munificence might easily obtain for you such a commemoration and perpetuation of valuable name, as would be much better than an Egyptian pyramid."
1718	Yale student enrollment is 37
1718-1721	Gifts received from Governor Yale
1718	The Collegiate School is named Yale College at first public Commencement in New Haven in honor of Elihu Yale"s donations.
Oct 9 1718	"An Act for the Encouragement of Yale College" passed by the Connecticut General Assembly.
Dec 1718	Removal of books from Saybrook to New Haven
Mar 24 1719	Rev. Timothy Cutler became Rector
Dec 30 1719	The First Society (Center Church) granted "ye Liberty of sitting in ye N. E. half of ye Front Gallery in ye Meeting house except ye frount seat, provided ye present Studants do pay 1s. per head . . . and for ye future ye students at sd. school 2s per head per annurn for ye use of sd- Society."
Jul 8 1721	Governor Yale died
Oct 1721	"What shall be gained by the impost on rum for two years next coming shall be applied to the building of a rector's house for Yale College." From an Act of the Connecticut General Assembly.
May 28 1722	Rev. Joseph Morgan (M.A. Hon. 1719) wrote to Rev. Cotton Mather: "I hear some in Conecticut complain yt. Arminian Books are cryed up in Yale Colledge for Eloquence and Learning, and Calvinists despised for ye contrary. . . ."
1722	Residence completed for the Rector on the southwest corner of College and Chapel streets. Occupied by Rector Williams, Presidents Clap, Stiles, and Dwight. Property sold in 1801.
Oct 1722	A "Common Seal" granted to the Trustees by the General Assembly.
Sep 1723	Honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine first conferred in America at Yale
Oct 10 1723	"AN ACT IN EXPLANATION OF AND ADDITION TO THE FOR ERECTING A COLLEGIATE SCHOOL IN THIS COLONY," passed by the General Assembly. This legislation, constituting the Rector ex oficio a Trustee, was not approved by the Trustees until September 11, 1798; the first meeting attended by the Rector was that of September 10, 1729.
1724	Catalogue of graduates printed at New London
May 31 1726	Trustees created office of Scholar of the House and appointed a Senior student; "his Work to observe and note down all Detriment the College receives in its Windows Doors Studies Tables Locks and Salary to be three pounds and to give an account Quarterly."
Sep 13 1726	Rev. Elisha Williams inducted into Rectorship after giving "Satisfaction of the Soundness of his Faith in Opposition to Armenian and prelatical Corruptions. . . ."
Sep 1727	The Trustees voted "that for ye future every Candidate for any Degree in this Colledge pay in to ye Rector before he has his Degree given him 40 Shillings, twenty Shillings for his Degree and the other twenty Shillings for the Cornencement Dinner for which latter the Rector to be accountable to the Trustees."
Jul 26 1732-1733	Bishop George Berkeley's donations establish the first scholarships for graduate study.
May 30 1733	Dean Berkeley shipped valuable collection of books from London for the College Library.
Sep 13 1738	The Trustees voted that a bond be required of every student before admission.
1743	The Colony grant increased and a third tutor engaged. A classified catalogue of the Library published.
Sep 12 1744	". . . after the End of this vacancy no person Shall be admitted a freshman into this College who is more than twenty one years old, unless by Special allowance of the Trustees or their Committee. "
Feb 25 1745	The Declaration of the Rector and Tutors of Yale College against the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, his Principles and Deisgns, in a Letter to him.
May 9 1745	"An Act for the more full and compleat Establishment of of YALE COLLEGE in New-Haven and for enlarging the Powers and Previleges thereof," passed by the General Court. By this Charter the Trustees became a corporation called The President and Fellows of Yale College.
Jun 1 1745	President Clap took oaths imposed by new charter which became effective on this date.
Sep 15 1745	Revised Laws of the College approved
Apr 16 1746	The first professorship (Divinity) established with funds given in 1745 by Colonel Philip Livingston "as a small achowledgement of the sence I have for the favour and Education of my sons have had there."
May 1747	The General Assembly authorized a lottery, 15 per cent to be deducted out of each prize for the building of a new College.
Oct 1749	In response to an appeal from the President and Fellows for further aid toward the new College, the General Assembly voted the proceeds of the sale of a French vessel taken by the Colony frigate.
Apr 17 1750	Foundation of the new College laid
1750	Construction of Connecticut Hall on Old Campus, the oldest standing building in New Haven.
Jul 1751	Custom introduced of the presentation to the President of the Senior Class as candidates for degrees, by Senior Tutor in an appropriate Latin speech.
Oct 1751	Additional funds voted by the General Assembly to complete the new building
1752	Exterior of new College completed
Sep 30 1752	The Corporation ordered that the new College be named Connecticut Hall in recognition of the generosity of the Colony government.
1753	New College partially occupied
Sep 12 1753	Reputed date of founding of Linonia, literary and debating society.
Nov 21 1753	The president directed to hold regular Sunday services in the College Hall. These were inaugurated on November 25.
Feb 1754	Reception in honor of Benjamin Franklin (M.A. Hon. 1753).
Nov 30 1754	The Rev. Naphtali Daggett, professor-elect, took of the College pulpit
Jun 30 1757	The College Church formed. Present corporate title, "The Church of Christ in Yale University."
Jul 19 1758	"Whereas the present calamitous and distressing War loudly calls us to Repentance and Reformation, and to the practice of Industry and Frugalityï¿½It is therefore ordered that the next Commencement shall be privateï¿½"
Apr 1761	Foundation laid for a Chapel on site of present Vanderbilt hall.
1763	"The study of Algebra was first introduced by the tutors, and made a part of the collegiate exercises."
Sep 20 1765	General Gage, writing to Sir William Johnson, referred to a group of Yale graduates as "the pretended patriots, educated in a seminary of democracy."
Apr 22 1766	The Corporation deliberated on insubordination of students and decided that disorders had "arisen very much from the Spirit of the Times and the Influence of others."
Sep 10 1766	Resignation of President Clap
Dec 17 1767	David Avery (B.A. 1769) wrote to Eleazar Wheelock (B.A. 1733): "It is not he that has got the finest coat or largest ruffles that is esteemed here at present. And as the class hence forward are to be placed alphabetically, the students may expect marks of distinction put upon the best scholars and speakers."
1768	The literary and debating society of Brothers in Unity founded.
1769	The Senior Class agreed to appear at Commencement "wholly dressed in the manufactures of our own Country."
Oct 16 1770	The General Assembly paid the outstanding debt of the College (ï¿½216) and the Corporation then established the professorship of "Mathematicks and natural Philosophy."
1770	Tutor Trumbull published The Progress of Dullness, a satirical poem on the system of instruction.
Sep 8 1772	Honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Laws first conferred.
Jun 28 1775	Student military company drilled for General Washington and escorted him as far as Mill river on his way to Cambridge, Noah Webster (B.A. 1778) leading the company "with music."
Nov 4 1777	Professorship of Ecclesiastical History established
Mar 1777 - Jun 1778	Because of difficulty in securing supplies for Commons, classes assembled under Tutors in Farmington, Glastonbury, and Wethersfield.
Jul 8 1778	Inauguration of the Rev. Dr. Ezra Stiles (B.A. 1746), first Yale graduate to be elected President.
Jul 5 1779	Yale students, alumni, and President Emeritus Napthali Daggett under General Tryon help defend New Haven during the British invasion. James Hillhouse (B.A. 1773) "commanded on that day the 2d Company of the Governor's Foot Guards" and the volunteers included former President Daggett "who fought, was wounded, taken prisoner, and maltreated." The credit of saving the college buildings was claimed by Edmund Fanning (B.A. 1757), then colonel of a Loyalist Regiment.
Nov 13 1780	Connecticut Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa founded.
Apr 24 1781	The Corporation voted that the degree of Doctor of Laws be conferred upon General Washington.
Jan 1782	Bequest of ï¿½500 from Daniel Lathrop (B.A. 1755) ; the first gift of substantial amount from a graduate.
Sep 14 1785	Seventy students graduated; the largest class in the first century.
Oct 15 1789	Arrived here the elegant Pourtrait of the Hon. Governor Yale which was this day received and deposited in the College Library. It is a Donation of the Hon. Dudley North, Esq., of London, Member of Parliament, and a Descendant of Governo rYale, after whom this College was named."
Dec 24 1789	Arrived from England a valuable collection of philosophical apparatus (including a telescope), purchased for the College.
Jun 26 1792	The President and Fellows accepted an amendment to the charter which provided that in return for substantial fincial assistance "the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor and six senior assistants in the Council of this State," became members of the Corporation ex oflciis.
1793	Artist John Trumbull's campus plan for The Old Brick Row adopted.
Apr 15 1793	Laying of cornerstone of Union Hall, later called South College. Demolished in 1893.
1794	Spring and Fall. Prevalence of scarlatina and epidemic of yellow fever interrupted college exercises.
May 12 1795	Death of President Stiles
Sep 8 1795	The Rev. Timothy Dwight (B.A. 1769) inaugurated President.
1796	The first annual catalogue of students printed in broadside form.
1799	Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest scientific societies, is founded by Yale faculty and alumni.
1800	Yale enrollment is 217.
Sep 10 1801	Professorship of Law instituted "for the benefit all the Graduate and Undergraduate Students, belonging to the College."
1801	In one hundred years the degree of Bachelor of Arts had been conferred on 2,333 students.
1802	Revival of religion experienced in the College
Sep 9 1802	Benjamin Silliman appointed to professorship of Chemistry and Natural History, first science professor at Yale and in America.
1803	"The necessay expenses, exclusive of clothing, traveling expenses in vacation, and pocket money do not exceed $200 per annum."
1804	The Corporation voted that "Freshmen shall not hereafter be sent on errands by their fellow students."
Sep 10 1805	James L. Kingsley (B.A. 1799) appointed Professor of languages and Ecclesiastical History and Librarian. The duties of the latter office had been performed previously by the Senior Tutor.
1808	Smibert's portrait of Bishop Berkeley and his family presented to College by Isaac Lothrop of Plymouth, Massachusetts.
1810	George Gibbs of Newport offered to deposit at Yale his extensive cabinet of minerals.
Oct 1810	Charter granted for The Medical Institution of Yale College, to be conducted under joint auspices of the College and Connecticut State Medical Society.
1812	Yale Musical Society founded.
1813	The first annual catalogue in pamphlet form (octavo) printed; it contained lists of the officers and students.
Aug 31 1813	The Medical Institution organized by the appointment of four professors in addition to Professor Silliman-Eneas Munson, Nathan Smith, Eli Ives, and Jonathan Knight.
Sep 13 1814	Degree of Doctor of Medicine in course first conferred.
Jul 23 1817	Jeremiah Day, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, was inaugurated President after ordination to the ministry.
Jul 1818	Publication of Volume I, Number 1, The American Journal of Science, more especially Mineralogy, Geology, and the Other Branches of Natural History; including also Agriculture and Ornamental As Well as Useful Arts. Conducted by Benjamin Silliman. "In the following plan of this Work we trust it will understood, that the Editor does not pledge himself that all subjects mentioned shall be touched upon in every number."
Oct 12 1818	Article 8 of the Constitution of Connecticut, which became effective on this date, confirmed the charter of Yale College.
May 12 1819	Further Act passed by the General Assembly substitute for the former senior assistants the six senior senators as members of the Yale Corporation.
Jul 8 1819	Calliopean Literary Society organized
1821	Chi Delta Theta founded by Professor Kingsley.
1822	Theological Department organized. Rev. Nathaniel W. Taylor called to professorship of Didactic Theology.
1822	Statement of the courses of instruction, expenses, etc., added to the annual catalogue.
May 1823	Assent to the Saybrook Platform by members of Faculty abrogated.
1823	Beginning of gifts from Sheldon Clark, for many years the large individual donor to the College.
1824	Private law school conducted in New Haven by Seth P. Staples (BA. 1797), Judge David Daggett (B.A. 1783), and Samuel Hitchcock (B.A. 1809) affiliated with Yale College and names students included in the catalogue.
May 24 1825	The Gibbs Cabinet of Minerals, which had been on exhibition since 810, purchased.
Sep 12 1826	The graduating class numbered 101; the largest previous class (82) graduated in 1814.
Sep 1827	The Society of the Alumni was formed with the avowed object of "sustaining and advancing the interests of the college. "
1828	Bread and Butter Rebellion
1830	The "Conic Sections Rebellion" of the Class of 1832.
1830	Permanent funds amounted to $57,995.70
1830	Each Tutor confined his teaching to one subject instead of hearing a single class in Greek, Latin, and Mathematics.
Oct 1832	The Trumbull Gallery opens, the first art museum connected with a university in America, featuring John Trumbull"s historical paintings of the American Revolution.
1832	Skull and Bones founded.
1832	The Centum Millia Fund secured from contributions of graduates and other friends. The first movement for raising a large amount for general endowment.
Mar 1834	Yale Natural History Society organized
Aug 19 1834	The Corporation accepted an Act of the General Assembly which provided exemption of taxation of college funds with an exception of real estate having an annual income of more than $6,000.
1835	The Yale Literary Magazine founded.
1836	Alpha Delta Phi founded.
Aug 14 1836	The Corporation accepted an Act which constituted a majority of the Successors of the Original Trustees a quorum, provided due notice of the meeting had been issued.
1838	Psi Upsilon (later Fence Club) founded.
1839-1841	Yale and New Haven community work together to secure the freedom of the Amistad Captives, a landmark event in African American history.
1841	Graduate instruction outside the professions begun
1841	Scroll and Key founded.
Nov 5 1841	Publication of the first number of the Yale Banner.
1842	A common dining hall abandoned
Jan 1843	Publication of the first number of The New Englander, later to become the New Englander and Yale Review.
Aug 15 1843	The Townsend Premiums established; five to be awarded annually "to the authors in the Senior class of the best original compositions in the English language."
Aug 15 1843	The School of Law formally placed under the control of the Corporation. The degree of Bachelor of Laws first conferred. The number of students enrolled 1824-1842 was 410.
1843	First collegiate rowing races are held in New Haven harbor.
1844	Delta Kappa Epsilon founded.
Aug 19 1846	The Corporation voted "that Noah Porter, Jun., of Springfield, is elected Professor of Moral Philosophy and physics on Clark's foundation to enter upon his office on or about the first of June next."
1846	Professorships of Agricultural Chemistry and of Applied Chemistry established "for the purpose of giving instruction to graduates and others not members of the undergraduate classes."
Oct 21 1846	Ordination and inauguration of President Theodor Dwight Woolsey.
Aug 17 1847	Department of Philosophy and the Arts (later to bcalled the Graduate School) established "to embrace Philosophy, Literature, History, the moral sciences other than Law and Theology, the Natural Sciences excepting Medicine, and their application to the Arts." The catalogue of 1847-1848 stated that "a School of applied Chemistry is embraced within this department."
1848	Berzelius founded.
1850	The total endowment at this time was $180,489.59.
1850	Yale enrollment is 555
1851	Graduates of Yale College 1702-1851: 6,093
Jul 27 1852	Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy authorized by the Corporation to be given in the Department of Philosophy and the Arts.
1852	Organization of a School of Engineering under Professor William Augustus Norton.
1852	First award of the DeForest Prize; established for the Senior who shall write and pronounce an English oration in the best manner."
1854	Schools of Applied Chemistry and Engineering named Yale Scientific School.
1854	Yung Wing graduates, the first Chinese student to graduate from an American college.
1856	Fund-raising pamphlets issued: Proposed Plan for a complete organization of the School of Science and Appeal in Behalf of the Yale Scientific School, with an Appendix.
1857	Cortland Van Renssalaer Creed graduates from the medical school, the first African American graduate of Yale.
Oct 30 1858	Joseph E. Sheffield, Esq., conveyed to the President and Fellows of Yale College a deed to property on the northeast corner of Grove and Prospect streets for the use of the Scientific School. His gifts and bequests for equipment and endowment ultimately exceeded $1,000,000.
Jul 24 1860	Yale awards first Doctor of Philosophy degrees in the United States. Yale Scientific School named Sheffield Scientific School.
1861	Mory's founded.
1863	Sheffield Scientific School awards first Ph.D. to J. Willard Gibbs.
1865	Thet Xi founded.
Jul 25 1865	The Corporation adopted plan for management of the School of the Fine Arts and appointed a "council of five persons, of whom the President of Yale College shall be, ex offcio, one and the chairman."
Nov 25 1865	Publication of the first number of the Yale Courant.
1865	Publication of the first number of the Yale Pot-Pourri.
Nov 1 1866	Acceptance of letter of gift from Mr. George Pebody of London for a Museum of Natural History.
1866-1900	"Public Lectures to Mechanics" instituted. Later known as the "Sheffield Lectures,'' the course was given annually for forty-four years.
1866	Course in Mining and Metallurgy announced
1867	St. Anthony Hall founded.
Jul 16 1867	Degree of Bachelor of Divinity first conferred. During the period 1822-1866 the number of students was 883.
Dec 1867	Mr. Jarves deposited in the School of the Fine Arts 119 paintings from his collection of Italian primitives. They were purchased by the University November 9, 1871.
1869	The Yale School of the Fine Arts, the first collegiate art school and Yale"s first coed school, opens.
1870	First Yale Scientific Expedition organized by Professor Marsh.
Feb 8 1871	Articles of Incorporation of the Board of Trustees of the Sheffield Scientific School drawn up at the suggestion of Mr. Joseph E. Sheffield.
Jul 11 1871	The Corporation accepted "An Act relating to Yale College," passed by the General Assembly on July 6, which provided for the election of six graduates as Fellows of Yale College "in the stead of the six senior senators of the state. . . ."
Oct 11 1871	Inauguration of the Rev. Dr. Noah Porter, eleventh president.
Mar 13 1872	The Corporation voted: "Whereas Yale College has by the successive establishment of the various departments of instruction the Institution attained to the form of a University: Resolved, that it be recognized as comprising the four departments of which a University is commonly understood to consist, viz: the departments of Theology, of Law, of Medicine, and of Philosophy and the Arts. Resolved, also, that the department of Philosophy and the Arts be recognized as comprising, in addition to the School of the Fine Arts, the three Faculties which severally instruct the members of the University who are prosecuting their studies as candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, the degree of Bachelor of Arts, or the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy." "Voted, that after the public Commencement in the year 1874 the degree of Master of Arts will not be conferred, unless satisfactory evidence has been given that the candidate has been pursuing professional, literary, or scientific studies since receiving his first degree."
May 15-16 1872	The Semicentennial Anniversary of the founding of the Divnity School.
1872	The Linonia and Brothers in Unity societies presented their libraries to the College and disbanded.
Sep 11 1872	Publication of the first number of the Yale Record.
1872	Mary Goodman, New Haven African American businesswoman, endows a scholarship fund for the education of African Americans in the Divinity School.
Jun 24 1874	"Voted, that the granting of ad eundem degrees henceforth cease."
Jun 24 1874	The Semicentennial Anniversary of the founding of the Divnity School.
1875	First Yale-Harvard football game.
May 17 1876	Advanced course in law and political science for graduates offered in School of Law leading to the degrees of Master of Laws and Doctor of Civil Law.
Jun 18 1876	Publication of the first number of the Yale Record.
1876	New Haven native Edward Bouchet receives the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Yale, the first doctorate awarded to an African American by an American university.
1876	Degree of Master of Arts upon examination first conferred.
1876	Peabody Museum of Natural History completed
Apr 9 1877	Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station established on permanent basis by the General Assembly with one of its Board of Control to be elected by the Trustees of the Sheffield Scientific School.
Jan 28 1878	Yale Daily News founded
1878	Chi Phi founded.
1880-1883	Walter Camp, as Yale student and coach, develops the game of American football.
May 1 1882	The Corporation voted to erect the Observatory buildings.
1883	The Farnam homestead at 43 Hillhouse Avenue bequeathed to the University for the President's house by Henry Farnam, former partner of Joseph E. Sheffield.
1883	Wolf's Head founded.
Dec 24 1884	The President and Fellows of Yale College and the Connecticut State Medical Society agreed to terminate the cotract known as the "Articles of Union of 1810" which provided for joint administration of the Medical department.
1886	First woman receives a degree from the Law School, Alice Rufie Blake Jordan.
May 25 1887	The Corporation accepted the Act of the General Assembly authorizing the name of Yale University.
1889	St. Elmo founded.
Jun 23 1890	In response to "a widespread sentiment among Yale graduates in favor of some systematic endeavor to increase the resources of the University," the Corporation voted "to establish a fund to be known as an Alumni University Fund."
May 25 1891	Publication of the first number of the Yale Alumni Weekly.
Jun 24 1891	The degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts conferred for the first time. The first number of the Tale Law Journal published.
Oct 1891	The first number of the Yale Law Journal published.
1892	The Corporation accepted the Act of the General Assembly authorizing the name of Yale University.
Mar 3 1892	The Corporation voted that "beginning in the fall of 1892, the courses of the Graduate Department with the degree of Ph.D. shall be open to candidates without distinction of sex."
May 1892	Publication of the first number of The Yale Review, succeeding the New Englander and Yale Review 1886-1892. George P. Fisher, George B. Adams, Henry W. Farnarn, Arthur T. Hadley, and John C. Schwab comprised the editorial board.
Apr 21 1893	The General Assembly passed an act making the Storrs Agricultural College the land grant college of Connecticut. Damages amounting to $154,604.45 were paid to the University and became part of the permanent funds of the Sheffield Scientific School.
1894	Department of Music becomes the School of Music. The first seven women receive doctor of philosophy degrees.
Nov 13 1894	The Corporation voted that the Department of Music be ranked as a separate school. On June 27 the degree of Bachelor of Music had been conferred for the first time.
Oct 18 1899	The first non-clerical President, Professor Arthur Twining Hadley, inaugurated.
1900	Allan M. Hirsh, Class of 1901, writes "Boola Boola" in the fall of 1900.
Mar 16 1900	Acceptance of gift from Mr. and Mrs. James W. Pinchot, Gifford Pinchot (B.A. 1889), and Amos R. E. Pinchot9B.A. 1897), providing for the establishment of a School of Forestry.
Oct 20-23 1901	Exercises in commemoration of the Bicentennial Anniversary of the founding of the University. The celebration included a special convovation at which sixty-two honorary degrees were conferred.
May 5 1902	The General Assembly passed an act making the Storrs Agricultural College the land grant college of Connecticut. Damages amounting to $154,604.45 were paid to the University and became part of the permanent funds of the Sheffield Scientific School.
1902	Yale Foreign Missionary Society established (Yale China Association 1934-).
May 20 1905	Pierson-Sage Square property acquired for development of University laboratories.
Jun 27 1905	Election of the first non-clerical Fellow, Payson Merrill (B.A. 1865), as a Successor of the Original Trustees.
Feb 19 1906	The Corporation provided for the establishment of an Alumni Board, to "meet the desire of Yale graduates in different sections of the country for representation on the councils of the University."
Nov 16 1907	Beginning of teaching at Yale-in-China, in Chang-sha, Hunan.
Jul 30 1908	The Yale University Press founded by George Parmly Day (B.A. 1897).
1910	Jane Addams receives the first honorary degree awarded to a woman by Yale.
Jun 20 1911	The Elizabethan Club Collection presented to the University Library by Alexander S. Cochran (B.A. 1896).
Oct 1911	Yale Review, New Series, Vol. 1, No. 1. Edited by Wilbur L. Cross (B.A. 1885).
1911-1915	Yale Peruvian Expeditions conducted by Hiram Bingham III (B.A. 1898) with the cooperation of the National Geographical Society.
1913	President William Howard Taft becomes professor of constitutional law at Yale.
1913	The requirements for the Master of Arts degree increase "not less than two years of graduate study."
Feb 22 1913	Alumni University Day first observed.
May 19 1913	First agreement betweent the University and the General Hospital Society of Connecticut, which provided a closer affiliation between the School of Medicine and the New Haven Hospital.
1913	Yale Peruvian Expeditions conducted by Hiram Bingham III (B.A. 1898) with the cooperation of the National Geographical Society.
1914	Yale Bowl completed, the largest amphitheater to be constructed since the Roman Colosseum.
Jun 20 1915	Dedication of the Civil War Memorial, the gift of about one thousand graduates and friends of the University.
Oct 20-22 1916	Pageant commemorating the Two-hundredth Anniversary of the Removal of Yale College to New Haven.
1916	Students in the Sheffield Scientific School who are able to comply with the entrance requirements of the School of Medicine may combine their College and Medical courses, entering the School of Medicine at the beginning of their third College year."
1916	Women admitted to the School of Medicine
Apr 7 1917	The Prudential Committee voted "to approve and adopt on behalf of the Yale Corporation the 'Memorandum [March 27] on the Attitude of Yale University in the Present Crisis,' signed by the President, Secretary and Treasurer of the University, the Dean of the College, the Director of the Sheffield Scientific School, and the Professor of Military Science, detailed by the War Department,...and to authorize the above officers as a University Emergency Committee, to make regulations in accordance with the provisions of the memorandum."
Apr 12 1917	Dedication of the Civil War Memorial, the gift of about one thousand graduates and friends of the University.
Aug 23 1917	The Yale Mobile Hospital Unit under command of Dr. Joseph Marshall Flint, Professor of Surgery, sailed for France.
Jul 5 1918	Death of John William Sterling (B.A. 1864). Mr. Sterling's will provided a bequest "to the use and for the benefit of Yale University." Funds appropriated for endowment and buildings by the Trustees of his Estate 1921-1937 exceeded $40,000,000.
Aug 1 1918	The Yale Army Laboratory School established under the direction of Colonel Charles Franklin Craig, M.C., U.S.A. (M.D. 1894). More than one thousand officers and enlisted men served at this station.
Sep 7 1918	Voted, "to authorize the President and Treasurer to proceed with the preparation of contracts satisfactory to the Government for the establishment of a branch of the Students' Army Training Corps at Yale University." "Voted, that the Naval Committee appointed by the Yale Corporation be disbanded. . . and that the powers of the committee be transferred to the Superintendent and the Commandant of the Yale Naval Training Unit..."
Dec 16 1918	Voted, "that in the opinion of the Corporation, the reasons which led to the establishment and maintenance of a course of "Selected Studies in language, literature, history and Natural and Social Sciences' under the administration of the Faculty of the Sheffield Scientific School are no longer valid."
Mar 26 1919	The Yale Mobile Hospital Unit under command of Dr. Joseph Marshall Flint, Professor of Surgery, sailed from France.
1919	The Yale Army Laboratory School established under the direction of Colonel Charles Franklin Craig, M.C., U.S.A. (M.D. 1894). More than one thousand officers and enlisted men served at this station.
1919-1920	University reorganization through the Corporation's Committee on Educational Policy and the Alumni Committee on Plan for University Development.
1920	President Arthur Twining Hadley appoints chemist John Johnson as the first Sterling Professor.
May 8 1920	Ownership of the Yale University Press transferred to Yale University.
Sep 30 1920	The Memorial Quadrangle first occupied. The gift of Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness for a memorial to her son, Charles W. Harkness (B.A. 1883).
1920	Beginning of the administration of the Freshman Year under a separate dean and faculty.
Oct 9 1920	The Corporation accepted terms of an agreement providing for affiliation of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum of Honolulu with Yale University.
Nov 21 1920	Dedication of the Memorial Tablets erected by the University to the men of Yale who gave their lives in the of their country during the World War.
1920	Completion of Yale-New Haven landmark Harkness Tower, at the time the tallest freestanding tower in the U.S.
Jun 21 1921	Inauguration of President James Rowland Angell.
1921	At the close of President Hadley's administration the University endowment exceeded $30,000,000, as contrasted with $5,605,736.82 on June 30, 1901.
Jun 21 1922	First award of the degree of Bachelor of Science to graduating class of the Sheffield Scientific School.
Nov 5 1922	Dedication of the Memorial Tablets erected by the University to the men of Yale who gave their lives in the of their country during the World War.
Dec 13 1924	School of Nursing established on the fiftieth anniversary of Connecticut Training School for Nurses, the institution which it succeeded.
Dec 13 1924	Acceptance of gift from Edward S. Harkness (B.A. 1897), for the establishment of a Department of Drama in the School of the Fine Arts.
Apr 18 1925	Agreement with the University of the Witwatersand, South Africa, provided for erection of a Yale observatory on its grounds.
Jun 14 1926	First award of the degree of Bachelor of Science to graduating class of the Sheffield Scientific School.
Sep 30 1926	Compulsory attendance at daily and Sunday chapel services abolished.
Dec 11 1926	Acceptance of gift from Charles H. Ludington (B.A. 1887) for the establishment of the Department of Personnel Study.
1928	Spring. Excavations at Dura-Europos started. Conducted by Yale and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters.
Dec 8 1928	The Corporation voted "to approve the principle of a residential subdivision of the undergraduate schools . . . Designed to foster a spirit of social intimacy and companionship."
May 11 1929	Berkeley Divinity School enters into affiliation with Yale University.
1929	Institute of Human Relations establsihed
Jan 11 1930	Acceptance of funds from Edward S. Harkness (B.A. 1897) to provide buildings and endowment to inaugurate the undergraduate residential college plan.
Feb 22 1930	The Yale Library Associates organized, succeeding the Alumni Board subcommittee on the Library.
Jun 14 1930	Acceptance of The Mabel Brady Garvan Collections of early American arts and crafts, the gift of Francis P. Garvan (B.A. 1897).
May 14 1932	School of Engineering reestablished.
1933	Branford, Calhoun, Davenport, Jonathan Edwards, Pierson, Saybrook, and Trumbull Colleges open under the college plan funded by Edward S. Harkness.
1934	Yale Political Union founded.
1934	Acceptance of funds from Edward S. Harkness (B.A. 1897) to provide buildings and endowment to inaugurate the undergraduate residential college plan.
Jun 30 1937	The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research established at Yale by gifts from Miss Alice S. Coffin and Starling W. Childs (B.A. 1891).
1937	Number of volumes in the several libraries of the University over 2,650,000.
Oct 8 1937	Inauguration of President Charles Seymour.
1937	Degree of Master of Nursing conferred for the fist time.
1940	Pension plan for employees adopted.
Jun 1941	First session of the summer school of music on the Stoeckel estate at Norfolk, Conn., provided by the bequest of Ellen Battell Stoeckel.
1941	Committees on Enrollment and Scholarships organized by Alumni Board to assist the Board of Admissions in the selection of applicants for admission to the Undergraduate Schools.
Jul 1 1942	Inauguration of President Charles Seymour.
Jul 15 1942	General Hospital, organized by the Surgeon General of the United States and staffed by doctors from the faculty of Medicine and Red Cross nurses organized by the School of Nursing, mobilized for active duty.
Nov 1942	Yale Laboratories of Primate Biology reorganized as the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology, Inc., under the joint administration of Harvard and Yale.
1942	Yale campus converted into wartime training school.
Jan 1943	Chinese Language School established to provide Chinese-speaking officers and enlisted men for the Army. In 1946 the school was organized on a permanent basis under the designation of Far Eastern Languages.
Jan 1943	Army Air Forces Technical Training School established for the training of aviation cadets in various fields. The Army leased physical facilities from the University but was responsible for all instruction in the school.
1943	Captain Glenn Miller forms Army Air Forces "Superband" at Yale, broadcasting weekly from the campus.
Jul 1943	Specialized training for the armed forces inaugurated. Yale was responsible for teaching men assigned to it by the services. The Army undergraduate courses included engineering, premedical, and language study and the advanced work consisted of medical training, a Military Intelligence School, and a Civil Affairs Specialist Training School. The Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard programs included for undergraduates premedical, pre-dental, and pre-chaplain corps work and deck officer, engineering, and naval aviation training. The Schools of Medicine and Nursing and the Divinity School gave instruction to medical and chaplain corps candidates and to women enrolled in the Cadet Nurse Corps.
Jul 1 1945	The Sheffield Scientific School resumed its original function of teaching science at the graduate level. Courses leading to the B.S. degree in science were placed under the faculty of Yale College and the course leading to the B.S. degree in industrial administration under the School of Engineering.
Nov 10 1945	Columbia University and Yale undertook the joint operation of the astronomical station at the University of the Witwatersrand.
1945	Labor and Management Center established "for the study of the basic principles of human relationships involved in industrial relations and analysis of the forces operating in the labor market."
1945	Termination of the armed forces training programs. From their inauguration in 1943, 14,000 Air Corps cadets, 3,650 officers and enlisted men in other Army schools, and 4,000 members of Navy units received training at Yale.
Feb 1946	Degree of Doctor of Forestry authorized.
1946	Summer. First session of summer art school at Norfolk, Conn., on the Ellen Battell Stoeckel estate.
Sep 1946	Two-term year (September-June) restored in the Undergraduate Schools.
1947	University Council of twenty-five alumni established to study the major constituent parts of the University and to offer recommendations for their improvement and support.
Oct 15-17 1947	Exercises to commemorate the centennial of the Sheffield Scientific School.
Jul 28 1948	Establishment of the Eugene Higgins Scientific Trust. The trust provides that its income is to be distributed among Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale universities for "education in natural and physical science: . . to promote the general advancement of science by investigation, research and experiment . . . And to encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner . . . the application of the knowledge so obtained to the improvement and benefit of mankind."
1948	Levi Jackson first African-American player and captain of Yale football team.
Feb 5 1949	25th anniversary of the School of Nursing celebrated.
Dec 10 1949	Degree of Master of City Planning authorized.
Jan 1950	First graduate program of research and instruction in the conservation of natural resources established in cooperation with the Conservation Foundation.
Feb 26 1950	Dedication of tablets in Memorial Hall erected by the University in memory of the Yale men who lost their lives in the service of their country in the Second World War.
Oct 6 1950	Inauguration of President Alfred Whitney Griswold.
1950	Establishment of the Eugene Higgins Scientific Trust. The trust provides that its income is to be distributed among Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale universities for "education in natural and physical science: . . to promote the general advancement of science by investigation, research and experiment . . . And to encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner . . . the application of the knowledge so obtained to the improvement and benefit of mankind."
Oct 18-19 1951	Principal celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the University.
1951	Master of Arts in Teaching program organized in the Graduate School.
1952	Some Yale books published in the anniversary year: Yale College, An Educational Histoy, 1871-1921, by George W. Pierson; The 250th Anniversary of Yale University: Speeches and Documents of the Year of Celebration, 1951-1952; Yale Men Who Died in the Second World War, by Eugene Kone; The Yale Scene, by Samuel Chamberlain and Robert Dudley French.
1952	Principal celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the University.
Feb 9 1952	Committee appointed by President Griswold to survey the intellectual and spiritual welfare of the University, its students, and its faculty presents report.
Jan 28 1953	Publication of Seventy-Five: A Study of a Generation in Transition, by the Yale Daily News on its 75th anniversary.
1953	University Art Gallery designed by architet Louis Kahn opens.
1953	Some Yale books published in the anniversary year: Yale College, An Educational Histoy, 1871-1921, by George W. Pierson; The 250th Anniversary of Yale University: Speeches and Documents of the Year of Celebration, 1951-1952; Yale Men Who Died in the Second World War, by Eugene Kone; The Yale Scene, by Samuel Chamberlain and Robert Dudley French.
1953	Yale leads fifth Humboldt Cwent expedition for collecting oceanographic species.
Jan 1954	Agreement by the American PhiIosophical Society and Yale to publish the papers of Benjamin Franklin, MA Hon 1753.
Feb 22 1954	Rededication of Connecticut Hall (1750/53- ) following complete renovation.
Jun 13 1954	One hundredth anniversary of the graduation from Yale of Yung Wing, the first Chinese to receive a Westem degree.
1954-1955	Publication of Seventy-Five: A Study of a Generation in Transition, by the Yale Daily News on its 75th anniversary.
Sep 28 1954	Honorary degrees awarded to five world religious leaders in a special convocation at the opening of the 133rd year of the Divinity School.
Jul 1 1955	The Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics at Yale University established in association with the Department of Economics.
1955	Publication of Yale: The University College, 1921-1937, by George Wilson Pierson.
Oct 28 1955	Dedication of the Josiah Willard Gibbs Research Laboratories, first science building constructed at Yale since 1922.
May 8 - Jun 18 1956	"Pictures Collected by Yale Alumni." Two hundred and fifty pictures covering 500 years of American and European painting loaned by 102 alumni, and viewed by 28,670 persons.
Nov 1956	Yale crew wins in Olympics for the United States.
May 7 - Jun 10 1957	Exhibition of Prints and Drawings from the Yale collections, dedicated to the memory of Carl A. Lohmann.
Jun 11-14 1957	The Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics at Yale University established in association with the Department of Economics.
Oct 19 1957	Yale Development Committee formed
1958	William Sloane Coffin, Jr. named chaplain.
1958	Carnegie Teaching Fellowships established.
1958	Summer Intern Program in Government established.
1959	Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at Yale at the invitation of the Undergraduate Lecture Committee.
Feb 21 1959	Dedication of the Memorial Tablets to the Yale Men who lost their lives in Korea, 1950-53.
Feb 21 1959	Dedication hockey game in the David S. Ingalls Rink.
Feb 20 1960	Alumni Day Program in honor of Yale authors.
1960	School of Medicine celebrates 150th anniversary: 1810-1960.
1960	President Griswold announces Program for the Arts and Sciences
1960	The former Alpha Delta Phi tomb at 15 Hillhouse Avenue converted for the Collection of Musical Instruments.
Oct 23 1961	Report of Committee for the Student of Engineering Education at Yale.
1961	The Concilium on International Studies organized to coordinate the work in International Relations, Mrican, East Asian, Latin Amencan, Russian and East European, and Southeast Asia Studies.
1961-1962	Professor Stanley Milgram conducts experiments on obedience to authority.
Apr 13 1962	Alumni Day Program in honor of Yale authors.
Jun 11 1962	The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws conferred upon President John F. Kennedy.
Dec 7 1962	Dedication of new residential colleges, Ezra Stiles and Morse.
1962	Yale-Columbia Southern Observatory, Inc., organized in cooperation with the University of Cuyo, Argentina.
Oct 11 1963	Dedication of The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Nov 9 1963	Dedication of the School of Art and Architecture Building.
Feb 20 1964	Yale and the State of Connecticut collaborate in establishing the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven.
Apr 11 1964	Inauguration of Kingman Brewster, Jr, as the seventeenth president of the University.
Jun 15 1964	Martin Luther King Jr. bailed out of jail to receive an honorary degree at Yale.
Sep 1 1964	Office of Administrative Data Systems established
Feb 1965	Graduate School Association organized.
1965	Yale Symphony Orchestra established.
1965	Paul Mellon (1929) anonymously purchases the Vinland map, purportedly the oldest known map of the Western hemisphere, and gives it to Yale.
1965	Yale Glee Club's first Round-the-World summer tour.
Oct 1965	Release of the report of the "Ad Hoce Committee on Policies and Procedures on Tenure Appointments."
Dec 4 1965	Opening of the Robert A. Taft Library of Jonathan Edwards College.
Oct 28 1965	Peabody Museum of Natural History celebrates centennial.
Oct 28 1965	Dedication of the Kline Biology Tower, the last of three buildings comprising Kline Science Center.
Dec 1965	Announcement of joint study to explore possibilities of Yale and Vassar College cooperation.
1966	The 250th anniversary of the removal of the Collegiate School to New Haven.
1966	Spring. First group of sophomores to participate in the Five-Year B.A. program selected.
Oct 5 1966	Dedication of the Arthur Williams Wright (B.A. 1859, Ph.D. 1861) Nuclear Structure Laboratory.
1967	North Sheffield Hall (1872/73) and Winchester Hall (1892) removed to provide site or new laboratory.
Dec 8 1967	Announcement of gift of the Paul Mellon Center for British Art and British Studies.
Dec 14 1967	Special advisory committee appointed to aid in planning coeducation at Yale.
Feb 17 1968	Fifty-fifth Alumni Day; cornerstone laying for the Becton Engineering and Applied Science Center.
Jul 6 1968	President Brewsier presides at commemoration in Wrexham, Wales, of the 250th anniversary of the naming of Yale College for its first benefactor, the Honorable Elihu Yale.
1968	Total endowment of the University, $482,896,526. Number of volumes in the several libraries of the University, over 5,300,000.
Nov 9 1968	Corporation approves coeducation for Yale College beginning with class entering in September 1969.
1969	Special advisory committee appointed to aid in planning coeducation at Yale.
1970	Yale responds to the Black Panther Trials in New Haven.
1971	First women named to serve on the Yale Corporation, Hanna Gray and Marian Wright Edelman.
1972	Schools of Architecture and Art established.
1976	School of Organization and Management founded (name changed to School of Management in 1994)
1977	Whitney Humanities Center opens
1977	Yale Center for British Art opened; Louis Kahn, architect
1978	A. Bartlett Giamatti inaugurated as nineteenth president
1986	Benno C. Schmidt inaugurated as twentieth president
1992	Howard R. Lamar became twenty-first president.
1992	Rumpus first published.
Oct 4 1993	President Richard C. Levin
1994	Yale establishes Homebuyer Program to assist university employees to buy houses in New Haven
1997	Five-year "and for Yale" campaign raised $1.7 billion dollars.
1998	Renovation of Yale's twelve residential colleges began
Nov 1998	Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition established.
1999	Yale enrollment is 11,019.
2000	Kurt Schmoke becomes first African-American Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation.
2000-2001	Yale Tercentennial celebrated. Yale announces $1 billion investment in science and medicine.
Apr 2 2001	Creation of Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies.
May 21 2003	Bombing at Law School.
2003	Art Gallery renovation begins.
Dec 2004	Professional students and graduate students in languages, the humanities, and the social science agree to form a union.
2005	Daniel L. Malone Engineering Center dedicated.
Apr 26 2006	President Hu Jintao of China visits Yale.
Sep 30 2006	Yale Tomorrow, a five-year $3 billion campaign launched.
2007	School of Management revamps curriculum.
Jun 2007	University announces that it will buy a 136-acre research campus in West Haven, Connecticut, vacated by Bayer Healthcare.
Jul 2007	Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg came to campus to film scenes for the next Indiana Jones movie.
Oct 19 2007	Bass Library, formerly Cross Campus Library, opened after a one-year renovation program.
2008	Yale announces the decision to construct two new residential colleges.
2008	Yale announces the decision to create School of Engineering and Applied Science.
2013	Yale Class of 1963 50th Reunion