Collection of humorous verses and sketches relating to Harvard College, 1769

Manuscript volume in various hands containing three general sections: satirical poems about Harvard tutors, a section of "last words & dying" speeches of Harvard tutors, and a copy of the Book of Harvard."

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.

Addresses given by Adam Winthrop, 1724-1727

This small notebook with marbled paper covers contains three Latin addresses delivered by Adam Winthrop during Harvard College ceremonies: the valedictory oration on Class Day, 1724, the "Oratio Salutatoria" at the 1724 Commencement, and the "Oratio Gratulatoria" which closed the exercises of the 1727 Commencement. The last page of the volume is signed "Adam Winthrop Jun'r."

The summary of a course of experimental lectures in natural philosophy by Dr. John Winthrop (manuscript copy), 1772-1774

Notebook with a handwritten copy of lecture summaries for a physics course given by Harvard Professor John Winthrop. The notes were made by Timothy Foster in 1772 and 1773. The volume contains twenty-five lectures with some diagrams.

The college, the market, and the court, or, Woman's relation to education, labor, and law

by Caroline H. Dall.

Women and work: the economic value of college training

by Helen M. Bennett.

Photostat copy of On the Death of Old Abdy Sweeper at Harvard College in Cambridge, undated

Photostat copy of a three-page poem based on Father Abbey's Will, beginning "Ah mournfull found in Abdy ye small is dead / and with him all our ease and joy is fled." There is no provided information about the author, date, or owner of the original volume.

Note from William Croswell to President Kirkland and the Corporation of Harvard College, 1817-1821

This folder contains six documents: three drafts of a brief March 10, 1817, note to Harvard President John Kirkland, with two of the drafts followed by an October 25, 1819, note to the Harvard College Corporation concerning Croswell's work on Harvard's Library Catalogue.

Letter from William Croswell to Thomas L. Winthrop, 1824 August 10

Draft of a brief letter requesting Winthrop communicate an arithmetical solution to the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Letters to the Corporation of Harvard College, 1819-1829

Paper notebook containing copies of letters sent by Croswell to the Harvard Corporation in relation to his work on the Harvard Library Catalogue.

Harvard College quarter bills, 1812-1818

This folder contains sixteen printed Harvard College quarter bills filled out in manuscript primarily for William Croswell's use of wood.

Lists of books in the Harvard College Library, undated

This folder contains six leaves with undated book and shelf lists.

Harvard College, undated

Two-page handwritten chronology of Harvard College's establishment and history from 1636 to 1657.

Commonplace book, October 29, 1728-January 15, 1735

The small hardcover volume contains excerpts copied by John Winthrop beginning at the age of thirteen as a freshman at Harvard College. Winthrop’s own description of this book as “a book of Extracts from many Authors” is accurate, as it includes neither personal information about Winthrop nor reflections on what he read. With the exception of occasional notations indicating the date he finished reading particular books, the volume consists of passages he copied from a wide range of sources. It begins with an index of the various sections of the book (History, Poetry, Miscellanies, Geography, Divinity, History, Philosophy, Philosophy, Miscellanies, Poetry, Divinity, Philosophy) and ends with an index of the extracts' authors.