History

Thomas Dudley PhotoNamed for Thomas Dudley who, as Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, signed the College Charter in 1650, the Dudley Community was established in 1935. Allston Burr, an overseer of Harvard College, became concerned about the ten percent of the student body that was not resident. He made available the basement and ground floor of old Dudley Hall on Dunster Street as a Non-Resident Center. In 1958, the Non-Resident Center became the eighth unit in the House System and was renamed Dudley House. The House stayed on Dunster Street until it moved to Lehman Hall in the Yard in 1967. In 1991, Dudley House was expanded to inlude all graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In 2019, the graduate and undergraduate sides of Dudley once again became distinct entities, renaming the graduate side the Graduate Student Center. The undergraduate side was renamed Dudley Community and moved to its current location at 10 DeWolfe St. Originally designed to serve commuter students, the Dudley Community has adapted over the years to changing needs within the student body. Today, cooperative house residents, Visiting Undergraduate Students, and non-resident undergraduate students, are affiliated with the Dudley Community; the mix of Havard College students makes the Community unique.