1855-1943
President of Harvard University

Reform of Harvard.

A lawyer and a largely self-taught expert on government, Abbott Lawrence Lowell during his tenure as president of Harvard University (1909-1933) remade the university, both on the undergraduate and graduate levels. He stressed the importance of community at the school, revamping the residential system. Lowell was also instrumental in the installation of course concentrations. As president, Lowell attracted some of the best minds to Harvard's faculty, whose academic freedom he strongly defended. In politics Lowell played an important role in both the League of Nations debate and the case of Sacco and Vanzetti.

Boston Brahmin.

Lowell was a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families in Boston and the brother of astronomer Percival Lowell and poet Amy Lowell. After attending private schools in Boston and Europe he enrolled at Harvard, where he excelled, especially...