Sermon notes compiled by Warham Williams, 1716-1718

Parchment-bound notebook containing notes kept by Warham Williams on sermons he attended between May 20, 1716 and April 20, 1718, while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College. The notebook includes two chronological tables, at the front and end of the volume, that list the town, lecturer (generally Harvard tutors), biblical text, year, month, day, and part of the day of sermons attended by Williams. The volume contains one-to-two page entries on specific sermons and provides the biblical text and related questions and conclusions. From the front of the volume, the pages contain entries for sermons attended between May 20, 1716 through February 13, 1717. Sermon entries for April 7, 1717 to April 20 1718 are written tête-bêche from the other end of the volume.

Received in the Harvard College Library on November 2, 1891 from Charles Williams, Sioux City, Ia.

Inside cover inscriptions: “Warham Williams his book Anno Domini, 1716.” “Bought at Boston of Mr. Philips, May 14, 1716.” Began May 20, 1716.”

Title supplied by cataloger.

A handwritten copy of Harvard College laws transcribed by Warham Williams in 1715 is available in the Admittaturs (UAIII 15.5.8 Box 1, Volume 1) in the Harvard University Archives.

Similar volumes of sermon notes compiled by Harvard undergraduates John Winthrop (Papers of John and Hannah Winthrop, HUM 9 Box 1) and Solomon Prentice (HUC 8724.380) are also available in the Harvard University Archives.

Warham Williams (1699-1751), a minister of Waltham, Mass., was born on September 7, 1699 in Deerfield, Mass. As a child, Williams was held as a captive during the Deerfield massacre in 1704. Williams received an AB from Harvard in 1719 and an AM in 1722. He was ordained on June 11, 1723 as the minister of the Watertown West church (now Waltham) and served until his death on June 22, 1751.