Counter bond, 1731 August 4

Handwritten counter bond between Stephen Palmer and Samuel Whittemore, and Edward Hutchinson, securing Stephen Palmer and Samuel Whittemore's loan from William Brattle and Andrew Bordman.

Hovey, Daniel, 1642-1695, autographed letter signed to John Winthrop; Ipswich, Mass., 1 side (2 pages), 1656 August 13

Correspondence relaying the progress of Hovey's stomach ailment after he took medicine prescribed by Winthrop, and further symptoms he was suffering, including chest pains. Hovey asks Winthrop for advice on additional action he should take to ease his symptoms.

Letters from Daniel Bates to William Jenks, May 1795-September 1798

Daniel Bates wrote these five letters to his friend and classmate, William Jenks, between May 1795 and September 1798. In a letter written May 12, 1795, Bates informs Jenks, who was then employed as an usher at Mr. Webb's school, of his studies of Euclid, the meeting of several undergraduate societies, and various sightings of birds, gardens and trees. In a letter written in November 1795 from Princeton, where he was apparently on vacation with the family of classmate Leonard Jarvis, he describes playing the game "break the Pope's neck" and tells Jenks what he was reading (Nicholson, Paley?, and Thompson) and what his friend's father was reading (Mirabeau and Neckar).

Letters to Ebenezer Hancock from his mother, Mary Perkins, and his stepfather, Daniel Perkins, 1758 June 27 and 1758 November 16

These two letters were written to Ebenezer Hancock while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College. His stepfather, Daniel Perkins, wrote on June 27, 1758 and his mother, Mary Perkins, wrote on November 16, 1758. Both letters were sent from Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where the Perkins lived. The letters contain general greetings and wishes for Hancock's well being, as well as parental advice regarding his behavior and comportment.

Writ for the attachment of goods or estate: action brought by Edward Hutchinson, Treasurer of Harvard College, 1731 June 5

Writ of attachment authorizing the Suffolk County Sheriff to seize £150 in money or property from John Orme, George Lawrence, and Samuel Pearce, all of Watertown, in response to action brought by Harvard College Treasurer Edward Hutchinson regarding the bond of John White. The case-specific information is handwritten onto a printed form.

Mathematical notebook, and commonplace book, circa 1689-1769

Manuscript notebook, possibly kept by Harvard students, containing 17th century English transcriptions of arithmetic and geometry texts, one of which is dated 1689-1690; 18th century transcriptions from John Ward’s “The Young Mathematician’s Guide”; and notes on physics lectures delivered by John Winthrop, the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard from 1738 to 1779. The notebook also contains 18th century reading notes on Henry VIII, Tudor succession, and English history from Daniel Neal’s “The History of the Puritans” and David Hume’s “History of England,” and notes on Ancient history, taken mainly from Charles Rollin’s “The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians and Grecians.” Additionally included are an excerpt from Plutarch’s “Lives” and transcriptions of three articles from “The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle,” published in 1769: “A Critique on the Works of Ovid”; a book review of “A New Voyage to the West-Indies”; and “Genuine Anecdotes of Celebrated Writers, &.” The flyleaf contains the inscription “Semper boni aliquid operis facito ut diabolus te semper inveniat occupatum,” a variation on a quote of Saint Jerome that translates approximately as “Always good to do some work so that the devil may always find you occupied.” In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Harvard College undergraduates often copied academic texts and lecture notes into personal notebooks in place of printed textbooks. Winthrop used Ward’s textbook in his class, while the books of Hume, Neal, and Rollin were used in history courses taught at Harvard in the 18th century.

Letter from George Richards Minot to Daniel Kilham, 1777 December 1

Three-page handwritten letter from Harvard undergraduate George Richards Minot to his friend and Harvard graduate Daniel Kilham, dated December 1, 1777. The letter describes the discipline inflicted upon Minot and seven of his classmates by the Harvard government following a “Thanksgiving frolic,” and the retributions carried out by the students against a Tutor who recommended harsh measures for the accused students. The Early Faculty minutes for 1777 (UAIII 5.5, Volume 4, pages 75-76) describes the students’ crime as “making riotous & tumultuous noises in the Hall…committed in Presence of a number foreigners, & and on a day appointed by Authority for public Thanksgiving.”

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.

Doctor Daniel Brigham's Book, 1789-1810 (inclusive)

Ledger maintained by Dr. Daniel Brigham (1760-1837) containing financial accounts for medical patients treated primarily in Northborough, Westborough, and Marlborough, Massachusetts from 1789 to 1837. The ledger details the charges for medical services and the corresponding payments, often made by payment-in-kind. Common charges included a shilling for a visit and administration of cathartics, emetics, or anodynes. Extraction of a tooth cost eight pence, and Brigham charged one woman nine shillings for delivering her son. A number of entries are obscured by pasted-in newspaper articles.

Sharḥ Tahdhīb al-kalām / az Mawlānā Muḥammad Yaʻqūb : manuscript, 1731

Written in one column, 21 lines per page, in black ink with words and sentences underlined in red.

Sharḥ-i Qaṣīdah-ʼi Burdah : manuscript, 1661

Written in one column, 19 lines per page, in black rubricated in red. Portions of text underlined or punctuated in red