Letter from John Quincy Adams to his brother, Thomas Boylston Adams, 1786 July 2

This letter was written by John Quincy Adams on July 2, 1786 to his younger brother, Thomas Boylston Adams, who was then staying with their uncle, the Reverend John Shaw, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. In the letter, John gives Thomas advice on life as a student at Harvard, instructing him to choose his friends carefully, to favor those who are virtuous and studious over those who are idle and prone to vice, to maintain an "unblemished moral reputation," and to spend as much as six hours each day studying in order to excel as a scholar.

Account books of Thomas Cradock, 1786-1818 (inclusive)

Account books listing patients, medicines administered, and fees charged by Dr. Thomas Cradock (1752-1821), primarily in Maryland, from 1786 to 1818. In addition to recording names, Cradock occasionally noted demographic information, the patient's location, or their occupation: from 1813 to 1816, he treated Richard Gent, a free African-American man; in 1813, he attended to John Bell, who lived in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Cradock further noted if the patient was a slave and the name of his or her owner. He would also administer care on behalf of corporate entities, such as Powhatan Factory, which apparently refused him payment. He also sometimes included a diagnosis: in the cases of a Mr. Rowles and Mrs. Violet West, he administered unspecified medicines for gonorrhea at a cost of ten dollars. Commonly prescribed drugs included emetics, cathartics, and anodynes. Cradock also provided smallpox vaccination for his patients. He accepted both cash and payment-in-kind. Tipped into the first volume is an envelope containing a letter from the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland to Mrs. Thomas Craddock in 1899 requesting a loan of portrait of Dr. Thomas Craddock [sic]. The three volumes also each contain an index to patient names.

Payment order for Ephraim Eliot on behalf of Thomas Adams, 1786 June 28

Handwritten order to John Sale to pay the bearer the specified amount signed by Charles Chauncey, John Clarke, Jonathan Williams, and James Thwing. The verso is signed by Ephraim Eliot on behalf of student Thomas Adams (Harvard AB 1788).

[Admittatur of Thomas Gray (Harvard AB 1790)], 1786 July 15

Published copy of the 1790 College Laws, bound in modern board binding, with the admittatur of undergraduate Thomas Gray signed by President Joseph Willard on July 15, 1786.