Elihu Yale
1649 to 1721
East India Company official whose gift named Yale
Founders and leaders · Business and money
Elihu Yale was born in Boston in 1649 but left America as a small child and never came back. He made a fortune in India with the East India Company, rose to govern its settlement at Madras, and was removed from office after charges of corruption. His fortune included profits from the trade in enslaved people, a history Yale has been examining openly in recent years.
In 1718 the struggling college in New Haven asked him for help, and he sent books, portraits and a shipment of textiles; the college sold the goods for 800 pounds. That was enough for it to take his name. On the Yale walk you enter the Old Campus through Phelps Gate; the man whose name is on everything around you never set foot in New Haven.
This story has not been written in your language yet, so it is shown in English.
Where to meet them
New Haven
- Phelps GateStop 1, Yale, from the Old Campus to the libraries
- Harkness TowerStop 4, Yale, from the Old Campus to the libraries