Valedictory poem delivered in the Chapel of Harvard University on the 21 June 1796: in the presence of the President Proffers & Tutors & the four classes of understudents at the request of the class who completed their college studies on that day

Handwritten draft of the Charles P. Sumner’s valedictory poem to the Harvard class of 1796, in a 19th century hardcover binding beginning “The youth by adverse fortune forced to roam…”. The poem mentions John Russell, a member of the Class of 1796 who died in November 1795. The copy includes edits and struck-out words.

by C. P. Sumner.

Charles Pinckney Sumner (1776-1839), Sheriff of Suffolk County, received an AB from Harvard in 1796. He worked as a lawyer in Boston, and served as Clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1806 to 1807 and again from 1810 to 1811, before becoming sheriff of Suffolk County in 1825. His son, Charles Sumner (Harvard AB 1830) served as a United States Senator from 1851-1874.

Two additional manuscript poems written by Sumner while he was a student at Harvard can be found in the collections of the Harvard University Archives (call numbers HUC 8795.386.83 and HUC 6796.84). The Archives also holds a collection of college memorials collected by Sumner and his son, Charles Sumner (1811-1874), documenting their years as students at Harvard.