The Brewhouse is the small one-story building on the far right. Detail from Conjectural view of Harvard in 1668 by Robert Shurtleff, created in 1935. Collegium Harvardianum Cantabrigiae in Nova Anglia, A.D. MDCLXVIII. HUV 2038, olvwork374306, Harvard University Archives.
The students often ate this modest meal of bread and beer in their chambers. There is a long history of beer at Harvard, beginning with the college’s namesake John Harvard. In England, John Harvard helped run the family tavern, and it is said that family friend William Shakespeare gave John Harvard a folio of recipes for brewing beer that he brought to America with him.
In addition to leaving funds for the founding of the college, John Harvard also helped establish a brewery at Harvard. At one point, there were three fully functioning brew houses on campus, but by the late 1700s the last brewery became a storehouse.
