I. Charlestown ferry bound volume, 1707-1806

This series contains sixty-nine documents related to the College's interest in the Charlestown ferry between 1707 and 1806 that were gathered together, arranged in chronological order, and pasted into a bound volume at an undetermined date. The majority of documents are leases and bonds with the ferrymen, as well as handwritten copies of Corporation petitions to the General Court regarding ferry fares and bridge development. The series also includes handwritten legal opinions composed by Levi Lincoln and Nathan Dane for the College analyzing the rights of the College to transportation-related income.

Student notebook of Thomas Prince, ca. 1707

Paper notebook in Latin on classical Greek grammar. The name "Thomas Prince" appears on the first page. The manuscript is undated. Based on the signature, this volume is assumed to have belonged to Thomas Prince, Sr., although it is undated and may have indeed belonged to Thomas Prince, Jr.

Deed of sale, 1707 November 19

Handwritten deed between grantor William Brattle and grantee Andrew Bordman for Cambridge property bordering the highway leading to Watertown. The deed is also signed by Elizabeth Brattle.

Nouveaux memoires touchant le Mexique ou la Nouvelle Espagne: recueillis sur les lieux avec une attention particulière par Mr. de Montségur, capitaine de vaisseaux du roy catolique pendant les annees 1707 et 1708 : manuscript, [17--]

Manuscript, in an unidentified hand, with revisions and corrections in a different hand [Monségur?].

Volume I, original,

This volume is a tête-bêche, with texts beginning at both the front and back covers rotated 180⁰ from one another. The portion at the back, which is much shorter in length, contains transcriptions of acts and orders of the General Court from 1642, 1650, and 1657. It also contains the "Rules and Statutes Relating to the Hollis Professorship of Divinity" and those relating to the Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural and Experimental Philosophy, as well as a transcription of a portion of Mary Saltonstall's will.

1800, Catalogus eorum qui in Universitate Harvardiana, Cantabrigiae, in republica Massachusettensi, ab anno MDCXLII, ad annum MDCCC, alicujus gradû laureâ donati sunt.

Marbled paper cover. Includes a biographical note on Joshua Moody (Harvard AB 1707), and a few additional annotations. Asterisks added next to the names of alumni who died after the Catalogue's publication.

College Book 4, 1686-1750

Regular recording of Corporation meetings began in College Book 4, which includes minutes from July 23, 1686 through September 5, 1750. Its spine title reads "College Book 4 & 5" due to a nineteenth century labeling error. The creation of College Book 4 was precipitated by the English Court of Chancery's October 1684 judgment, which annulled the Royal Charter of the Massachusetts Colony and seemed to render the College Charter of 1650 – and with it the Corporation and Board of Overseers – defunct. In May 1686, Joseph Dudley (Harvard AB 1665) received a commission as the President of the Council of New England, and on July 23, 1686, Dudley and the Council met in Boston to create a provisional College governing board led by Increase Mather as Rector of the College and John Leverett and William Brattle as Tutors. The "Rector and Tutors" mirrored in purpose if not in name the Corporation's "President and Fellows," and the agreements of President Dudley and the Council creating the new governing board comprise the first entry in College Book 4. In June 1692, a new act of incorporation for Harvard College was passed in the Massachusetts Legislature and signed by the Governor. The Charter of 1692 merged the functions of the Board of Overseers and the Corporation into one Corporation consisting of the President, Treasurer, and eight Fellows. As the Corporation created by this 1692 act (and modified in later versions of the Charter) grew unwieldy, its members met less frequently. As a result, the Faculty (known until 1825 as the "Immediate Government") assumed more responsibility in managing the College's daily operations and addressing student discipline. On December 6, 1707 the Massachusetts General Court restored the Charter of 1650, thus reestablishing the Board of Overseers and the Corporation as the governing bodies of Harvard College. The changes in name and composition of the Harvard Corporation between 1686 and 1707 are documented in the proceedings recorded in College Book 4.

Commonplace book : manuscript, [16--]

Notes concerning verses of the Bible, and moral and religious issues.