Miskatonic University
Created: February 2017 | Updated: February 2017

Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham, a fictitious town in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River. After first appearing in H. P. Lovecraft's 1922 story "Herbert West–Reanimator", the school appeared in numerous Cthulhu Mythos stories by Lovecraft and other writers. The story "The Dunwich Horror" implies that Miskatonic University is a highly prestigious university, on par with Harvard University, and that Harvard and Miskatonic are the two most popular schools for the children of the Massachusetts “Old Gentry”. The university also appears in the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game based on the mythos.  

Miskatonic University is named after the fictional Miskatonic River, which flows through Arkham. The school is the most famous institution in the imaginary setting known as Lovecraft Country. Miskatonic University is evidently modeled on Ivy League institutions like Harvard University, Yale University, Dartmouth and especially Brown University, in Lovecraft's native Providence, Rhode Island. In Lovecraft's stories, the university's student body seems to be all-male, much like northeastern universities of Lovecraft's time. The only female student mentioned is Asenath Waite, of Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep" (1937).

Miskatonic University is famous for its collection of Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature and occult books. The library at the university holds one of the few genuine copies of the Necronomicon. Other tomes held at the library include the Unaussprechlichen Kulten by Friedrich von Junzt and the fragmentary Book of Eibon. Miskatonic has a medical school, as featured in "Herbert West Reanimator". Mythos fiction by other authors as well as fan interpretations of Lovecraft's Miskatonic University differ in whether mystical and Mythos studies are covert or overt. In the first interpretation, which follows Lovecraftian literary traditions, Miskatonic University is an ordinary university that also harbors secrets and has an unfortunately frequent number of run-ins with Mythos elements. In the second, more common in comedic and RPG works (and in Miskatonic University paraphernalia), Mythos and strange elements are overtly displayed at Miskatonic University and form part of its campus cultural identity.

Miskatonic University is modeled on the northeastern Ivy league universities of Lovecraft's day, perhaps Brown University of his hometown Providence, Rhode Island; which Lovecraft himself wished to attend. In Lovecraft's stories, the university's student body is implied to be all-male, much like northeastern universities of Lovecraft's time. The only female student mentioned is Asenath Waite, of Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep" (1937).

To represent Miskatonic University in their The Whisperer in Darkness film in 2009, the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society chose Mount Holyoke College. The film uses Pasadena City College for interior scenes of the school.

Miskatonic University is famous for its collection of Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature and occult books. The library holds one of the very few genuine copies of the Necronomicon. Other tomes include the Unaussprechlichen Kulten by Friedrich von Junzt and the fragmentary Book of Eibon.

Miskatonic's medical school features in "Herbert West Reanimator".

Interpretations by other authors and fans differ as to whether mystical and Mythos studies at the University are covert or overt. In the first interpretation, which follows Lovecraftian literary traditions, Miskatonic University is an apparently ordinary school whose occult undercurrent only occasionally breaks the surface. In the second, more common in comedic and role-playing game works (and in Miskatonic University paraphernalia), Mythos and strange elements are overtly displayed and form part of its campus identity.

Lovecraft has declared that the word was "a jumble of Algonquin language roots."