#  Digging Veritas 

 



       ![eyeglass lens and lice comb.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/peabody/files/hero-dv-personal_effects.jpg?itok=vn7PGfGY) 

 

 



 

 



 

### Digging Veritas: The Archaeology & History of the Indian College and Student Life at Colonial Harvard 

 

We reflect here on the [Harvard Yard Archaeology Project](/hyap "Digging Veritas") (HYAP)—a groundbreaking experiment in which Harvard students of today search for meaning in the material remains of Harvard students of the past. This ongoing archaeological project occurs in a larger collaborative context, as different groups come together to explore Harvard’s history. In 2007 and 2009, Harvard students, professors, and staff, leaders of local Native communities, preservation professionals, tourists, and other passersby visited our excavation site in Old Harvard Yard, sharing in the excitement of discovery and interpretation.



 





 

 

 



###    Read more about Digging Veritas  expand\_more  

 

 HYAP's most recent work has centered on the Indian College. Harvard built the College under its 1650 charter, which committed the new institution “to the education of the English and Indian Youth of this Country.”

 An interpretive dialogue developed between archival documents, historic maps, curated objects, personal interviews, and the artifacts we found. Together, these sources expose colonial Harvard as a landscape shaped by social and religious tensions that affected everything from the relationships between Native peoples and English settlers to the everyday routines of student life. Three themes rose to the forefront of our study: literacy and the Indian College; rule (breaking) and religion; and negotiations of social status. Who knew small fragments buried below ground could reveal so much?



 

 

 



 

 

 

 

##  Galleries 

 



  [### Students in the 17th century

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-students-17th-century) 

   ![detail: view of Harvard colleges](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_0-veritas-students-start-1.jpg?itok=1FX0JUXZ) 

 

 

 

  [### Rule (Breaking) & Religion

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-rule-breaking-religion) 

   ![Detail: clay pipe](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_veritas-rule-start-2.jpg?itok=syijf7Fg) 

 

 

 

  [### Beer and Some Tobacco

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-rule-breaking-religion-beer-and-some-tobacco) 

   ![pottery fragments](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_1-beer-3.jpg?itok=dtj10wHi) 

 

 

 

  [### Dare to Wear

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-rule-breaking-religion-dare-wear) 

   ![Portrait of Adam Winne](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_2-wear-1.jpg?itok=g7lHdYvb) 

 

 

 

  [### The Indian College

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-indian-college) 

   ![Map of Harvard College, 1650-1700](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_veritas-college-1.jpg?itok=srZKTSpC) 

 

 

 

  [### Table Troubles

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-divided-we-eat-table-troubles) 

   ![Table items](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_1-eat-1.jpg?itok=rsi-4aXV) 

 

 

 

  [### About the Indian College Students

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-students-17th-century-about-indian-college-students) 

   ![Caleb's bag](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_1-aboutstudents-1.jpg?itok=_3dM5p--) 

 

 

 

  [### Literacy and the Printing Press

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-literacy-and-printing-press) 

   ![Black and white image of an early printing press.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/dv_literacy_and_the_printing_press.jpg?itok=_UGTteHX) 

 

 

 

  [### About the Excavations

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-about-excavations) 

   ![Unit H724 Profile](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_aboutexcavations7-2.jpg?itok=py5jnX9A) 

 

 

 

  [### What Happened to the Indian College?

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-what-happened-indian-college) 

   ![King Philip's Red Wool Sash](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_0-veritas-whathappened-start-1.jpg?itok=-dJOtSj7) 

 

 

 

  [### Indigenizing Veritas

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-what-happened-indian-college-indigenizing-veritas) 

   ![Interior of Wetu](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_veritas-indigenizing-1.jpg?itok=CnZkcxxI) 

 

 

 

  [### Divided We Eat

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-divided-we-eat) 

   ![Detail: Still Life with Fish](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/oe_0-veritas-eat-start-1.jpg?itok=HY0w1KS3) 

 

 

 

  [### Creating the Exhibit

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-%C2%BB-creating-exhibit) 

   ![Three people stand in the center of the frame. They smile, their arms around each other with a blue-grey building in the background.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/dv_creating_the_exhibit.jpg?itok=SwAVFNkD) 

 

 

 

  [### Further Reading

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-further-reading) 

   ![The entrance to the Digging Veritas exhibition.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/dv_further_reading.jpg?itok=JAEW4cp2) 

 

 

 

  [### Acknowledgements

 ](/galleries/digging-veritas-acknowledgements) 

   ![A wall of the original Digging Veritas exhibition.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/dv_acknowledgements.jpg?itok=ZEhBmU1e)