“Founding of Dartmouth College,” wood engraving by Samuel E. Brown, published in John Warner Barber, The History and Antiquities of New England, New York and New Jersey, 1841.
“Founding of Dartmouth College,” wood engraving by Samuel E. Brown, published in John Warner Barber, The History and Antiquities of New England, New York and New Jersey, 1841. Credit: Courtesy of N.H. Historical Society

In December 1769, Governor John Wentworth signed the college charter for Dartmouth College. The college was primarily the work of Eleazar Wheelock, who was seeking to expand a charity school he had founded that educated Native Americans in religious and secular subjects.

Wheelock enlisted the aid of one of his former students, Samuel Occum, an ordained Presbyterian minister and a Mohegan Indian, to raise funds.

While in England, Occum secured a large donation from Britain’s secretary of state for the colonies, Lord Dartmouth, which allowed a larger school to be founded in the charity school’s place.

Dartmouth College soon became a place where both Native Americans and Englishmen were educated together.

Today, Dartmouth College continues to educate some “youth of the Indian tribes,” along with far more numerous non-Native American students.

N.H. Historical Society