Payment order for Sylvanus Ames, 1766 July 1

Handwritten order to John Sale to pay scholarship funds to Sylvanus Ames (Harvard AB 1767), signed by Thomas Foxcroft, Charles Chauncey, Thomas Waite, and Daniel Marsh.

Annotated almanac, 1766

Almanac containing three laid-in pages with handwritten notes and a few sporadic corrections to the rising and setting times of the moon on the calendar pages. The three laid-in pages consist of a small scrap of paper with the weights of the family, and two folded pages with notes about a lunar eclipse on August 20, 1766.

Annotated almanac, 1766

Almanac containing one interleaved page and sporadic annotations on the calendar pages including some notes about the weather. The interleaved page contains entries about the weather and the repeal of the Stamp Act (March 18).

Annotated almanac, 1766

Almanac containing one folded laid-in leaf and sporadic and minimal annotations on the calendar pages of corrections to the astronomical measurements. The laid-in leaf contains short notes about vegetable and fruit planting in April, May, and June of 1766 and 1767.

Annotated almanac, 1766

Almanac containing sporadic and minimal annotations correcting the printed astronomical measurements. There is one note on the January page about the sun's declension.

Annotated almanac, 1766

Almanac with one interleaved folded leaf and annotations made by John and Hannah Winthrop. The calendar pages are typically annotated with one or two notes at the bottom of page documenting household activities such as the hanging of bacon or bringing the horse from the pasture. The interleaved leaf contains entries by Hannah Winthrop about the weather, an earthquake (January 23), and a note "The Glorious News arrivd of the repeal of the Horrid Stamp Act" (May 16). There are entries of deaths in the community and a bill of mortality for 1766 in John Winthrop's hand.

Annotated almanac, 1766

Almanac interleaved with unruled pages, a fragment of two leaves from an unidentified reference book containing a chart of beer and land measures and European locations, and a printed text with a chart of beer measurements and pages 131-134 of Robert Lowth's A short introduction to English grammar : with critical notes. The unruled pages include entries on the weather, household activities and accounting notes, and a note of the number of inhabitants of Massachusetts.

Lists of books donated by individuals and organizations in Scotland, ca. 1766 (3 manuscript copies)

These lists include books donated by Anthony Ferguson, an Aberdeen merchant; the Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge; William Gray, bookseller; Mr. Hog, merchant; Messrs. Gray and Alston, printers; Mr. Miller, bookseller; John Erskine, who donated his own work, Theological Dissertations; the Reverend Mr. Randal; and the Reverend Walter Scot Baxter. The lists are almost identical, though there are several variations and discrepancies.

John Winthrop's proposal respecting electrical globes and jars, ca. 1758

In this proposal, John Winthrop explains the need to replace damaged "electric globes" used in the College's collection of scientific apparatus. He states that Benjamin Franklin, at the time residing in London, was willing to seek replacement globes for the College's collection. Winthrop then proceeds to assert that the College should acquire "square bottles, of a moderate size, fitted in a wooden box, like what they call case bottles for spirits" instead of the large jars included in the scientific apparatus, because those jars cracked frequently.

An abridgment of what I extracted while an undergraduate at Harvard College, 1766-1769

The bound volume contains excerpts copied by Benjamin Wadsworth from books he read as a student at Harvard in the late 1760s. The volume includes almost no personal commentary on the readings. The excerpts are arranged by year of study for the academic years 1766-1769, beginning when Wadsworth was a sophomore. Each entry begins with a title indicating the book title and author for the passage, and there is an alphabetical index at the end of the volume. Wadsworth selected “extracts” from both religious and secular texts including several histories of England, American histories (with a focus on Puritans), the Bible, and in his senior year, “the Koran of Mohammed.” He also read several books on the art of speech and the art of preaching. There are few science texts included, though the final five-page entry is titled, “What I thought fit to note down from Mr. Winthrop’s experimental Lectures” and contains notes both on the content of Professor John Winthrop’s lectures as well as the types of experiments being performed in class. Wadsworth’s commonplace book offers a window on the state of higher education in the eighteenth century and offers a firsthand account of academic life at Harvard College.

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."

Commonplace book of John Bullard, 1775-1779

This bound volume contains excerpts copied by Jonathan Bullard from books he read as a student at Harvard in the mid 1770s. Excerpts include an unattributed poem titled "On Friendship," which appeared in the "poetical essays" section of Volume 36 of the London Magazine in 1767; Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion, 1736; The Quaker's Grace; a history of England; Newton's laws; Plutarch's Morals; Benjamin Franklin's writings on the Aurora Borealis. The volume also includes several extracts from articles about the death of John Paddock (Class of 1776), who drowned in the Charles in the summer of 1773, sheet music for two songs, "The Rapture," and "A Song" from Henry Harington's "Damon and Chlora," and a transcription of the satirical "Book of Harvard," written in response to the Butter Rebellion of 1766. Interleaved in the middle of the volume is a transcription from an ecclesiastical event moderated by Ebenezer Bridge in Medford, Mass. on November 20, 1779. The variety of texts suggests the commonplace book was not used solely for academic works.