The election of J. Leverett in 1708, the first president that was not a clergyman, marked turning of the University toward academic independence from Puritanism. Since the College developed during the period from the 18th to 19th centuries, its curriculum was broadened, for the most part in the sciences, thus the College produced and attracted a great list of well-known scholars, like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and James Russell Lowell as well as William James, and the elder Oliver Wendell Holmes, also Louis Agassiz, as well as Gertrude Stein.
Then Charles W. Eliot, the president in 1869-1909, transformed the comparatively small provincial establishment into a modern college.
During the tenure of Charles W. Eliot, the Law as well as Medical schools were revived, and the graduate institutions of Business and Dental Medicine, plus Sciences and Arts were established. Thus rnrollment grew from 1,000 up to 3,000 students, and the faculty rose from 49 up to 278, and then the endowment grew from $2.3 million up to $22.5 million. So it was due to Eliot’s watch that a new school,namely Radcliffe College, was founded. In 1870 some women very much linked to Harvard College were exploring methods to make education more available to women.
Stella S. Gilman, one of the members of this group of women, was married to Arthur Gilman, the historian and educator. In 1878, under the influence of his wife, Gilman suggested the establishment of a school for women to Mr. Eliot. The President approved, and then seven women were elected to plan the new institution. In 1879, it began operations.
Under A. Lawrence Lowell ,Harvard President from 1909 to 1933, the undergraduate program of study was replanned to ensure learners a liberal education by concentration in a one field with some distribution of program requirements among the rest disciplines. Nowadays, 51 fields are offered to students of Harvard College.
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