Harvard University's 1650 charter founded a multicultural educational setting when it committed the new institution "to the education of the English and Indian Youth of this Country in knowledge and godliness." The Harvard Yard Archaeology Project (HYAP) contributes to renewing that commitment.

As part of the commemoration of the 350th anniversary of the 1655 Harvard Indian College, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Native American Program, and Department of Anthropology began an ongoing collaboration to study seventeenth-century Harvard and its overlooked histories. HYAP embodies the evolving ideals of a multicultural educational setting and critically reflects on the role of early Harvard within shared histories.