Committee Report on College Silver, 1781

Report of a committee appointed by the College to inventory the College Plate, listing faculty members and the pieces in their possession. The folder also includes two receipts signed by Harvard tutors Charles Stearns (Harvard AB 1773) and William Bentley (Harvard AB 1777, AM 1780), acknowledging the vessels they were loaned.

Receipt, 1746 April 26

Handwritten receipt signed by John Barrett acknowledging payment by Andrew Bordman with money granted him by the General Court due to "his sickness since he Returned from Cape Britton" and delivered by Captain Osburn and others from the Committee of War.

Bill, 1771 August 23

Handwritten bill from William Manning to Sarah Bordman for "mending shoes for her negro Cato," from May 9, 1770 to July 4, 1770. Payment acknowledged on verso by William Manning, August 23, 1771.

Bill and receipt, 1773

Handwritten contract between John Simonds and Andrew Bordman for writing work done by Simonds' son, William Simonds, "who is under age," signed January 15, 1773, and a receipt for payment signed by William Simonds, July 28, 1773.

Bill, 1774 July 26

Handwritten bill from William Manning to Andrew Bordman for shoes for Bordman and Cato purchased between December 1, 1773 and July 26, 1773. Payment acknowledged by William Manning on verso.

Bill, 1774 October 5

Handwritten bill from William Collson to Andrew Bordman for carpentry work between October 5, 1774 and 1778. Payment acknowledged by William Collson on verso.

Bill, 1778 May 22

Handwritten bill from John Jones to Andrew Bordman for work in June 1776. Payment acknowledged by John Jones on verso.

Bill, 1779 January 19

Handwritten bill from William Collson to Andrew Bordman for carpentry work on January 19, 1779. Payment acknowledged by William Collson on verso.

Collection of Harvard College bills sent to George Wingate, 1792-1796

This collection of bills, sent to George Wingate while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College from 1792 to 1796, includes quarter bills, butler's bills, and bills and receipts of payment from two women, Mary Hilliard and Mary Kidder, who provided Wingate room and board ("board and chamber"). The butlers bills were created by the two men who held that position during Wingate's time as a student, John Pipon and Timothy Alden. Caleb Gannett was the steward the entire time, and thus creator of all the quarter bills. Some of the bills indicate charges for sizings and fines for punishments, and a bill from Mary Hilliard indicates that Wingate purchased candles, blank books and sheets of paper from her.

Records of the Society for the Promotion of Theological Education at Harvard University, 1788-1853 (inclusive), 1816-1853 (bulk)

Includes minutes and other records, 1816-1829, of the trustees of the Society and other correspondence relating to the founding of the Society; treasurer's reports, 1843-1844, of J.G. Palfrey; lists of beneficiaries, 1824- 1830; and subscription receipts, 1819-1823. Also records regarding subscriptions for a professorship, 1828, an extract from the will of J.D. Williams, and legal matters. For more detailed information about records, see Harvard Archives LOCATION below.

Deeds for properties in Boston [and Cambridge?], 1798-approximately 1945 (inclusive); approximately 1880-1920 (bulk)

This group of records contains deeds and related documents for a selection of properties owned by Harvard University in Boston and possibly Cambridge and other nearby communities through the mid 1940s. Documents include deeds, assignments of mortgages, receipts, correspondence, and other legal documents. Many of the documents record property transfers prior to Harvard's acquisition of the property, and often the documents do not fully identify Harvard's involvement with the property. The bulk of the documents date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Account book of Daniel Brigham, 1781-1798 (inclusive)

Account book maintained by Dr. Daniel Brigham (1760-1830) for services provided to approximately 180 patients, treated primarily in Northborough, Westborough, and Marlborough, Massachusetts, and surrounding towns between 1781 and 1798. The ledger details the charges for his visits to patients and medicines he prescribed. Common charges included one shilling, four pence for Brigham to visit and administer an emetic or cathartic to a patient. A visit and bloodletting by Brigham cost one patient two shillings, eight pence. He charged six shillings to amputate a toe, and eight pence to extract a tooth. Includes an index to patient names. The ledger also records household and miscellaneous expenses of Brigham.

William Blair Townsend letter and receipt books, 1743-1805, bulk 1744-1777

The collection consists of two volumes, which date from 1743 to 1805, spanning his whole career as a merchant. Volume one is a letter book containing Townsend's business correspondence from November 23, 1743 to December 12, 1774. Most of the letters were written to American (many in North Carolina) and British (predominately in London) merchants. His earliest letters document his efforts to establish himself as a trader. Over time his letters turn to illustrate the common problems faced by many merchants: damaged goods, overpriced goods, embargos, and high freight costs. Particularly enlightening are his comments on the challenges of doing business throughout the French and Indian War and the years leading up to the American Revolution. He most frequently corresponded with London merchants Champion & Hayley, Lane & Booth, Lane Son & Fraser, Harrison & Ansley, and Leeds merchant Samuel Elam. In addition he frequently corresponded with Eliakim Palmer, colonial agent and merchant in London, as well as Dr. Walley Chauncy of North Carolina. He dealt in a wide variety of goods including molasses, rum, tar, medicines, pitch, saddles, tallow, hides, skins, pickled beef and pork, and wine. The letters also document Townsend's involvement in the slave trade through his occasional purchases of slaves.

Student lectures notes on chemistry and materia medica, and medical recipes, of Lyman Spalding, 1795-1799 (inclusive)

Contains notes taken by Harvard student Lyman Spalding during eleven chemistry lectures delivered by Harvard Professor Aaron Dexter (1750-1829) in the fall of 1795 and recipes prepared and used by Spalding in his medical practice in 1797. The recipes include elixir vitriol, containing liquor, Jamaica pepper, cinnamon, and ginger, and an electuary for a cough, containing oxymel squills (sea onion in honey), licorice, antimonium tartaricum potash (a compound of the chemical element antimony and a potassium-containing salt), and opium. The volume also contains writings about chemistry by Spalding, some of which appear transcribed from published sources, in undated entries, and a diary entry from 1799 regarding an experiment with water.

Commonplace book of Moses Appleton, 1791-1815 (inclusive)

Volume containing medicinal recipes, medical notes, poetry, and obituaries written by Dr. Moses Appleton (1773-1849). Many of the recipes were copied from medical texts or other publications. His "cure for the dropsy," taken from the New York Herald, contained stale cider, parsley, horseradish, oxymel squills (sea onion in honey), and juniper berries. For diarrhea, he prescribed a blackberry syrup. Several entries indicate Appleton practiced Thomsonian medicine, an alternative system based on use of botanicals. The medical notes include an account of his treatment of a man with smallpox in 1815, and entries on patients he inoculated with cowpox matter. Another entry dated in 1796 provides instructions from the Massachusetts Humane Society for "treatment to be used with persons apparently dead from drowning," which included blowing tobacco smoke in the victim's lungs and applying warm blankets for several hours. Appleton adds a note questioning whether or not the lungs also should be "often artificially inflated." There is additionally a history of prominent physicians dating from ancient Greece.