author
Charles William Eliot
1834–1926
Best remembered as the long-serving president who reshaped Harvard, he helped turn a small college into a modern university and later brought classic reading to a wide public through the Harvard Classics. His career made him one of the most influential voices in American education.
1 Audiobook
Four American Leaders
by Charles William Eliot
About the author
Born in Boston in 1834, Charles William Eliot studied at Harvard and began his career teaching mathematics and chemistry. After time in Europe and a professorship in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was chosen as president of Harvard in 1869 while still a relatively young man.
Eliot led Harvard for forty years, from 1869 to 1909, the longest presidential term in the university's history. During that time he pushed for major changes in admissions, teaching, professional schools, and the elective system, helping transform Harvard into a leading modern research university.
After stepping down, he remained an active public figure and became widely known as the editor of the Harvard Classics, a fifty-volume series created to bring important works of literature, history, philosophy, and science within reach of ordinary readers. He died in 1926, leaving a legacy that reached far beyond one campus.