It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover, moved to Durham in 1893, and adopted its current name in 1923.

Durham resident Benjamin Thompson left his farm and assets to the state for the establishment of an agricultural college.

On April 10, 1891, Governor Tuttle signed a bill authorizing the college's move to Durham, New Hampshire.

In 1892, the Board of Trustees hired Charles Eliot to draw a site plan for the first five campus buildings: Thompson, Conant, Nesmith, and Hewitt Shops (now called Halls) and the Dairy Barn.

On April 18, 1892, the Board of Trustees voted to "authorize the faculty to make all the arrangements for the packing and removal of college property at Hanover to Durham."

In fall 1893, classes officially began in Durham with 51 freshmen and 13 upperclassmen, which was three times the projected enrollment.

With the continuing housing shortage for men, the administration encouraged the growth of the UNH Greek system.

In 1919 supervising architect Eric T. Huddleston prepared a master plan for the campus which guided development of the school for the next thirty years.

[10] In 2016, the news that the university was spending $1 million on a new video screen for the football stadium provoked criticism, both on and off campus.

The School of Law offers Juris Doctor degrees in addition to graduate studies in Intellectual Property and Commerce & Technology.

[20] UNH received 18,040 applications for admission to the Fall 2019 incoming freshman class; 15,159 were admitted (an acceptance rate of 84.0%), and 2,731 enrolled.

[30] In 2012, the Department of Education ranked the University of New Hampshire as having the sixth most expensive in-state tuition for a public four-year college.

Other areas of the library provide access to media equipment, collaborative work spaces, and laptop ports.

[36] The Parker Media Lab (PML) is an interdisciplinary audio and visual self-service recording space located in the Dimond Library.

The PML was designed to support the creation of professional, academically focused content and is available for use by any University of New Hampshire (UNH) student, staff, or faculty member.

The space includes: A One Button Studio for video recording, complete with a camera, audio equipment, and lights; A Lightboard (transparent whiteboard), to support presentations and content delivery; A Mac computer with advanced editing capabilities; A Whisper Room (sound isolation studio) with two professional quality microphones and headsets.

The UNH-IOL interviews and accepts applications from students of all majors and varying backgrounds of job experience and expertise.

[38] More than 100 graduate and undergraduate student employees work with full-time UNH-IOL staff, gaining hands-on experience with developing technologies and products.

[40] [42] The university has about 250 student organizations grouped by academics and careers, community service, political and world affairs, arts and entertainment, culture and language, fraternities and sororities, hall councils, honor societies, leisure and recreation, media and publications, religious, special interest, and student activism.

[55] According to College Factual's 2021 Diversity Report 9,849 undergraduates were white, 419 Hispanic, 339 Asian, 255 multi-ethnic, 125 Black or African-American, and 1 pacific Islander.

Among graduate students, 1,031 were white, 35 Hispanic, 26 Black or African American, 24 Asian, 15 multi-ethnic, and 1 pacific islander.

[56] The student-led Diversity Support Coalition (DSC) aims to offer resources to groups "affected by institutionalized oppression based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity and expression, age, ability, native language, national origin, and/or religion at UNH.

"[57] Multiple organizations on campus are focused on providing women in professional fields access to relational and ideational resources promoting success.

The university's colors are white and blue, and its mascots are two wildcats known popularly around campus as Wild E. Cat and Gnarlz.

[60] In addition to varsity athletics, the university offers many club sports through the Department of Campus Recreation, including aikido, archery, baseball, crew, cycling, dance, fencing, figure skating, golf, men's lacrosse, Nordic skiing, rugby, sailing, softball, tennis, taekwondo, men and women's ultimate Frisbee,[61] wrestling, and the Woodsmen Club.

The recognized fight song of UNH is "On to Victory", the most current version of which was arranged by Tom Keck, Director of Athletic Bands from 1998 to 2003.

[66] Previously in the fall 2020 semester about 96% of incoming freshmen chose to live on campus, and over 70% of returning sophomores did as well.

It was founded in 1973 by Robert H. Rines as the Franklin Pierce Law Center, and operated independently until 2010, when it was formally incorporated to be a part of the University of New Hampshire.

In addition, from 1906 to 1928, the hall housed the laboratories of Charles James, who was an innovative developer of separation and analytical methods for compounds of rare earth elements.