Board of Overseers
ORG
Board of Overseers
Until the 1860s, Harvard presidents were anointed by and answered to the university's Board of Overseers, a powerful group of political and religious establishment figures that included the governor of Massachusetts, along with other dignitaries appointed by the Legislature. The 1865 law shaking up the Board of Overseers allowed the university to adjust more nimbly to events outside its gates.