But even if Harvard’s archives do not eventually yield more information about Iacoomes—and O’Keefe said more research is possible—Johansson said that “members of the Harvard community are looking for other ways to honor his legacy,” including an annual memorial lecture in Iacoomes’ name.

“We...want it to be a lecture that can be cross-disciplinary, [including] international relations, leadership, history, and political science,” Johansson said.

“To have [Iacoomes’] name attached to something of this sort would be an excellent tribute to his memory,” said Durwood Vanderhoop, a member of the tribal council of the present-day Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Martha’s Vineyard.

Over the last 350 years, Vanderhoop said, the name Joel Iacoomes was little known among the Wampanoag.

But “it’s a name that’s becoming more familiar,” he Vanderhoop. “It’s a realization and a sense of pride, to know we come from a long line of educated [people].”

In addition to Iacoomes, the Wampanoag can claim the only person ever to graduate from Harvard’s ill-fated Indian College, Iacoomes’ classmate, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, who did participate in Commencement in 1665.

Months later, though, Cheeshahteaumuck became sick and died in Watertown.

—Staff writer Brendan R. Linn can be reached at blinn@fas.harvard.edu.