I'm working on Harvard College v. Amory, 23 Mass. 446 (1830), today. It is said to have articulated the prudent man rule in trust investment. It won't suprise anyone that I'm skeptical of the traditional story, but that's something I'm going to have a lot more to say later. I think the case really has a lot more to do with adjustment of income and principal between a lifetime beneficiary and the remainder-holders, but right now I want to call attention to the purpose of the devise of the testator, John McLean: part of the remainder was to endow a professorship in ancient history. The first holder of the chair, back in 1836, was Jared Sparks. I write about him a little. And you know what? There's a still a McLean professor of history at Harvard -- Steven Ozment.
Update as of September 26: Holy cow! I was just reading Craig Wilder's book and was surprised to learn that McLean made his fortune in part off of slavery.
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