Letter from William Croswell to Joseph and David A. Croswell, 1825 July 20

Draft of a letter concerning Continental bills in Croswell's care.

Bond for David Cowing. 1785 November 16

Printed bond of James Cowing, Shoemaker and Timothy Doty, yeoman of Ballstown, New York to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for 200 ounces of silver on behalf of student David Cowing. The bond was witnessed by Samuel Randall and Lettes Jenne.

A Poetical Essay deliver’d at Commencement, July ye 18th 1781, (manuscript copy owned by David Daniells)

Folio-sized paper unattributed copy of John Davis's 1781 Commencement poem. The last page is no longer attached. The last page is inscribed “From your Humble Ser’t David Daniells" and the verso has the phrases: "The amiableness of religions" and "Constantinople burnt to ashes."

Letter from David Phips to Colonel Jonathan Snelling regarding escort of Governor Hutchinson to Harvard Commencement, 1773 July 12

David Phips wrote this letter to Colonel Jonathan Snelling from Cambridge on July 12, 1773, to inform him that Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson had requested the accompaniment of guards during his travels from Milton to Cambridge on July 21, 1773, to attend the Harvard College Commencement exercises. In the letter, Phips informs Snelling that he has issued warrants to the guards, instructing them to congregate at the Sign of the Grey Hound in Roxbury, Massachusetts at eight o'clock on the morning of the 21st. He explains that twelve other men will march, under the command of Sub-Brigadier Sumner, to the Governor's home in Milton to escort him to Roxbury, where the larger party will assemble. These heightened security measures were certainly prompted by political unrest, although this is not stated explicitly in the letter. Phips concludes by saying: "I shall order a dinner for us at Bradish's, where I hope to have the pleasure to dine with you."

Journal of Charles Coffin and David Gurney, 1781-1785

This diary appears to have been kept by two different students, both members of the Harvard College class of 1785. The first two pages contain entries made by a student named David, believed to be David Gurney because the entries relate to the freshman curriculum and Gurney was the only student named David who was a freshman in 1781. Gurney originally titled the volume "A Journal or Diary of my concerns in College of important matters." He made entries from August 28 through October 21, 1781, recording his lessons on Virgil, Tully, Homer, the Greek Testament, Hebrew grammar, English author John Ash's "Grammar," and a text called "The Art of Speaking." At the top of one of the pages recounting these studies, Gurney wrote in large, bold letters: "About how I misspent my precious time." Charles Coffin's entries begin on October 25, 1781 and fill the bulk of the journal. Coffin kept this diary while a student at Harvard College from 1781 to 1785. Although most of Coffin's entries are written in Latin, an account of his July 1781 examination for admission to the College is in English.