Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old StyleAutobiography of Increase Mather, AAS Proceedings, 1961. – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701).Autobiography of Increase Mather, AAS Proceedings, 1961, p 351. "From my first being chosen president of the College (1681) to my resigning my Relation to that society (1701) was full 20 years." He was influential in the administration of the colony during a time that coincided with the notorious Salem witch trials.