Gore was granted an honorary law degree from Harvard in 1809 . He served on the college 's Board of Overseers from 1810 to 1815 and as a Fellow from 1816 to 1820 . Harvard 's first library building , a Gothic structure built in 1838 of Quincy granite , was named in his honor , but was demolished when Widener Library was built in its place in 1915 . ( This structure is found on the seal of the city of Cambridge . ) One of the residential Winthrop House 's buildings is called Gore Hall in his honor .