An account of my quarter bills, charges &c from July 11th 1743 to July 13th 1748 at Harvard College

Handwritten account book kept while Storer was a student at Harvard College. The well-organized volume is arranged by expense type and then date and was updated periodically, usually quarterly. The information offers a glimpse at the expenses of a Harvard student and provides information about the larger community that supported student life. The precise entries indicate the lifelong habits of Storer as a careful and methodical financial manager that would prove so valuable when he served as Harvard's treasurer more than thirty years later. Storer documents accounts with the steward, butler, sweeper, glazier, barber, and lists these individuals by name. The volume also includes notes on expenses for boarding, transportation, wood, and pocket expenses. While most entries do not list specific purchases, Storer provides details on the cost of a Harvard Commencement in 1747 (including the cost of a diploma, money to the President, hiring a house, a boat, a woman, and "2 Negroes"), and a specific accounting of the different food purchased for the event; Storer also lists expenses for an 1748 "supper for the graduates."

Title transcribed from volume.

Transferred to the Harvard University Archives from the Harvard College Library in 1964.

Ebenezer Storer was born in Boston on January 27, 1729/30. He received a AB from Harvard in 1747, and an AM in 1750. He joined his father as a merchant after graduation. Storer's experience as a sound financial manager encouraged Harvard to elect him the College Treasurer in 1777 in place of John Hancock. Storer continued in the position until his death, and devoted considerable time to settling the college accounts confused by Hancock's mismanagement and the Revolutionary War. In 1797 he was appointed an inspector in the Excise Office of the United States, and later served for two years as Treasurer and Collector of Taxes for the Town of Boston. He died on January 5, 1807.