Meeting minutes maintained by the Secretary, May 7, 1776; June 4, 1776; and July 2, 1776

Because the Secretary was absent from the May 7, 1776 meeting, John Winthrop was chosen as Secretary pro hac vice (for that occasion only). Samuel Cooke, Secretary pro tempore, recorded the minutes for the June 4, 1776 meeting, and the minutes from the July 2, 1776 meeting are in an unknown hand.

Meeting minutes maintained by the Secretary, Nov. 12, 1777

These minutes concern General William Heath's request for permission to house the soldiers of John Burgoyne – British prisoners of war – at Harvard. The Overseers voted to recommend that the Corporation allow the soldiers to occupy one or more College buildings, in spite of various hesitations. It has not been decisively determined whether or not the British troops were ultimately housed at Harvard. Some sources assert that no buildings were occupied, while others claim that Burgoyne and his soldiers lived in Apthorp House for a time.

Meeting minutes maintained by the Secretary, April 17, 1792 and May 7, 1793

These minutes, recorded on the recto and verso of a single page, are incomplete excerpts.

Meeting minutes maintained by the Secretary, Oct. 6, 1801

The verso of these minutes contains a list of various gifts and bequests to Harvard, including what was presumably their current value.

Meeting minutes maintained by the Secretary, April 21, 1812; May 4, 1812; and June 3, 1812

These minutes pertain to discussions of the General Court's "act to repeal an act" (also called "the Act to alter and amend the Constitution of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, and to regulate certain meetings of said Board") in February 1812, which repealed changes made in 1810 to the Constitution of the Board of Overseers. The Overseers present at these meetings doubted the act's legality and discussed ignoring and/or attempting to overturn the act.

Miscellaneous questions, [1794]

One leaf containing a handwritten draft of queries about the salaries of Professors later incorporated into a 1794 memorial signed by Professors Pearson, Webber, and Tappan and presented to a joint Board of Overseers and Corporation Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the College Treasury.

Address, 1789 May 21

Handwritten four-page draft of an address by Eliphalet Pearson. The address, made on behalf of the Harvard Corporation, relays the resolution of the Board of Overseers regarding the hours during which students should be in their chambers, restrictions on their ability to go into town, and emphasizing the College government's "fervent wish to see virtue & order prevalent among the students of this society." The introduction discusses the expectations of parents for their children to receive "a polite, virtuous, & religious education" instead of "sending him to a place, which is said to be noted for rudeness, vice, & irreligion."

Tutor Sever's Final Argument, 1722

This marbled hardcover volume contains a forty-one-page handwritten draft of the memorial from Nicholas Sever to the Harvard Board of Overseers providing a historical background on the College charters. The document begins, "May it please ye Excell: of ye Coll: to fav'r me w'th a few words for ye further support of this memorial." The draft includes struck-through words and page 41 contains directions for additional edits.

Committee's report (fragment), 1734/5 March 14

A half-page handwritten report by a committee of the Corporation endorsing the Judah Monis's Hebrew Grammar following their revision of the work as recommended by a June 8, 1724 vote of the Board of Overseers. The document is signed by President Benjamin Wadsworth, Professor Edward Wigglesworth, Tutor Henry Flynt, and Rev. Nathaniel Appleton. The document is a fragment and some of the missing text transferred to the back of the Hebrew Grammar Account (HUG 1580.5 Box 1, Folder 8).