St. John's College (pron.: /saɪntdʒɒns/ saint-JⱭːNƩ) is a private, liberal arts college with two U.S. campuses: one in Annapolis, Maryland, and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The College was founded in 1696 as King William's School, a preparatory school. It received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States. Since 1937, it has followed a distinctive curriculum, the Great Books Program, based on discussion of works from the Western canon of philosophical, religious, historical, mathematical, scientific, and literary works; it is probably for this program that the school is best known.