[Letter from Thankful Smith to Mary Dunster, ca. 1767]

Handwritten one-page undated letter from Thankful Smith to Mary Dunster of Harwick, Mass. The letter is witnessed by Judith Smith, Elisha Parker, and Caleb Gannett. The short letter is playful and provides cryptic details about Smith's life. Though the letter is closed, "I remain your dutiful Parent," the author appears to be Thankful Smith writing to her sister Mary Dunster.

Diary, 1739

The diary is interleaved in an unbound copy of Ames’ An astronomical diary, or, An almanack for the year of our Lord Christ, 1739 ... (Boston, 1738). The entries, covering only the months of February through November, are written on blank pages and followed by the almanac calendar pages for January through August 1739. Each page holds a month of single-line entries that focus on Eliot’s lecture and sermon attendance. The entries also occasionally mention traveling to Boston and community news such as burials.

Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1815 March 16

Two octavo-sized leaves containing a brief half-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley to accompany the deliver of a "small parcel of Irish Farthings."

Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1815 April 16

One folio-sized leaf containing a brief half-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley requesting time to visit with Hannah Crowninshield during the summer.

Letter from W. D. Peck to William Bentley, 1815 March 2

Two leaves containing a two-page handwritten letter from Peck to Bentley identifying and describing the fish species Ophidium as the specimen in a drawing by a young woman described by Peck alternately as Bentley's "daughter" and "Miss C." Bentley had no children, and Peck is presumably referring to Hannah Crowninshield, Bentley's pupil.

Letter from W. D. Peck to William Bentley, 1815 May 17

One leaf containing a one-page handwritten letter from Peck to Bentley briefly commenting on the receipt of a fish specimen.

VI. [Announcement for Elisha Sylvester], 1815 April 25

One leaf containing a one-page handwritten announcement for a Boston visit by book distributor Elisha Sylvester of Turner, Maine.

Letter from Samuel Willard, Deerfield, Massachusetts, to Susan Holland [nee Willard], Belchertown, Massachusetts, August 20, 1815

Willard says that everyone is in good health and asks his sister to write to him.

Almanac, annotated, 1739

Copy of Nathaniel Ames’ An Astronomical Diary: or, An Almanack for the Year of our Lord Christ, 1739 ... (Boston, 1739) annotated by Andrew Bordman II with brief entries in the margins, generally noting deaths in the community.

Collection of Harvard College bills sent to George Wingate, 1792-1796

This collection of bills, sent to George Wingate while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College from 1792 to 1796, includes quarter bills, butler's bills, and bills and receipts of payment from two women, Mary Hilliard and Mary Kidder, who provided Wingate room and board ("board and chamber"). The butlers bills were created by the two men who held that position during Wingate's time as a student, John Pipon and Timothy Alden. Caleb Gannett was the steward the entire time, and thus creator of all the quarter bills. Some of the bills indicate charges for sizings and fines for punishments, and a bill from Mary Hilliard indicates that Wingate purchased candles, blank books and sheets of paper from her.