Letter from Edward Holyoke to his child, 1766, January 18

One-page handwritten letter from Harvard President Edward Holyoke (1689-1769) requesting that the letter's unidentified recipient locate a book on academic costume previously mentioned by "Secry Oliver," referring to the Secretary of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Andrew Oliver (1706-1774; Harvard AB 1724). In the letter, Holyoke explained that College alumni wished to give him a gown, and he wanted to determine the appropriate design for the head of a college. The recipient of the letter is identified only as "My dear Child" from "Yo'r Affect. Father, E. Holyoke." The letter also includes the note, "Give my love to my Dau'ter."

The letter's recipient may have been Holyoke's only surviving son Edward Augustus Holyoke (1728-1829; Harvard AB 1746) of Salem, Mass., or one of his three sons-in-law in 1766: Dr. William Kneeland (1732-1788; Harvard AB 1751) of Cambridge, John Mascarene (1722-1779; Harvard AB 1741) of Salem, and Samuel Cutts (d. 1801) of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

This item was donated to Houghton Library on July 27, 1994 by Boston antiquarian bookseller George Goodspeed (1903-1997; Harvard AB 1925) and transferred to the Harvard University Archives in 1999 as part of George Goodspeed's collection of Harvardiana.

Title supplied by cataloger.

The item was originally cataloged as part of HUA 734.

Edward Holyoke (1689-1769; Harvard AB 1705) was President of Harvard College from 1737 to 1769.