Themes and reviews, 1788-1805

Small notebook with brown paper covers containing handwritten entries noting the essay topics given to students between 1788 and 1805 according to class. The prompts are in both English and Latin and are generally philosophical quotations or verse from poetry that students responded to in short essays. There is a small handwritten chart for "A Scheme for a Lottery for a New College" laid into the back of the volume.

Massachusetts register and United States calendar, for the year of our Lord, 1805

Annotated and interleaved almanac in marble-paper hard covers with minimal annotations to the calendar pages, generally "J" and "S." The interleaved pages contain sporadic handwritten entries including brief notes about deaths in the community, Bible citations, ministers whose sermons Pearson attended, and Corporation meetings.

Letter from John Lathrop to Eliphalet Pearson, 1805 October 30

One folded-leaf containing a letter from John Lathrop to Pearson requesting his attendance at a meeting of the Harvard Corporation.

[List of newspaper articles], 1802-1805

Small paper notebook with a four-page handwritten list of newspaper articles generally from the New York Herald, Palladium, or Spectator. The article titles indicate various topics such as politics, history, religion, and agriculture and do not suggest a common theme.

Interleaved almanac, 1744

The 1744 diary is interleaved in Poor Richard's An almanack for the year of Christ 1744. The thin paper-covered book holds brief notes about Holyoke’s daily life as an undergraduate at Harvard, written on blank pages bound with the almanac. The entries focus on Holyoke’s life as a college student with mention of his professors and daily events. The months of May, July, October, November, and December have no entries. The diary records the outbreak of King George's War: "War with France Proclamed [sic]" (June 2), as well as his new hobby of painting.

[Address made to the class of Freshman], 1805 March 8

4-page handwritten copy of an address by Eliphalet Pearson to "my young Friends & Pupils," made to the Freshmen class on March 8, 1805 "the day, oh which Adams 2, a Senior Sophister, was interred at Londonderry." The address focuses on the "unbecoming noise" made by students going to class and mentions "this mark of inconsideration" in the context of "this day of sorrow, which commits to the tomb another of your number."

Address to the students read in the Chapel, 1805 April 23

2-page handwritten copy of an address by Eliphalet Pearson relaying the votes of the Faculty recommending that students avoid "mixing with the inhabitants of the town" on election days following the students disruption of town election meetings on April 1, 1805.

Copy of resolves of the Overseers relative to the Disturbances at the Coll. ye beginning of Apr 1768, 1768 April 12

Handwritten copy of six resolves and one vote passed by the Board of Overseers regarding the behavior of undergraduates, copied by Andrew Eliot, secretary to the Board of Overseers, and entered into the College Book No. 7, page 177. The resolves reflected on the insubordination of Harvard students, declared the support of the Overseers towards the efforts of the College government to maintain order, and proclaimed the expulsion of guilty students a "just punishment." The Overseers voted to have the President read the resolves in the College Chapel, which was done by President Edward Holyoke on April 12, 1768.

Letter from Eliphalet Pearson to Loammi Baldwin, 1805 March 19

One-page brief handwritten letter from Eliphalet Pearson, interim President of Harvard College, to Loammi Baldwin thanking Baldwin for the gift of a "handsome hewn stone for the support of a portable astronomic quadrant."

"An account of books belonging to the late library wch were in the hands of the senior sophisters when it was consumed by fire," ca. 1764

This list appears to be in the hand of Andrew Eliot, Librarian from 1763 to 1767. Books are listed according to format (folio, quarto, octavo) and entries indicate the surname of the student who checked the book out, its author and title, and whether or not the book had since been "returned and sent down." Some entries indicate unusual locations, including "says he returned it to the Pres[ident]" and "Dr. Marsh has it."

Letter from Jasper Mauduit to Andrew Oliver, Oct. 10, 1764

In this letter, Mauduit informs Oliver that he is preparing to ship several cases of books to Harvard, and that they will contain books from the estate of Dr. Avery and from Mauduit himself. He enclosed lists of the books being shipped, and those lists (along with a bill of lading) are in the following folders.