Letter from John Quincy Adams to his brother, Thomas Boylston Adams, 1786 July 2

This letter was written by John Quincy Adams on July 2, 1786 to his younger brother, Thomas Boylston Adams, who was then staying with their uncle, the Reverend John Shaw, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. In the letter, John gives Thomas advice on life as a student at Harvard, instructing him to choose his friends carefully, to favor those who are virtuous and studious over those who are idle and prone to vice, to maintain an "unblemished moral reputation," and to spend as much as six hours each day studying in order to excel as a scholar.

" Lines upon the late proceedings of the College Government" collection, 1787-1917

This collection contains various manifestations of a humorous poem, most often called "Lines upon the late proceedings of the College Government," written by classmates John Quincy Adams and John Murray Forbes in 1787. Both Adams and Forbes were members of the class of 1787, and the poem recounts events surrounding the pranks and ensuing punishment of two members of the class behind them, Robert Wier and James Prescott. Wier and Prescott had been caught drinking wine and making "riotous noise," and they were publicly reprimanded by Harvard President Joseph Willard and several professors and tutors, including Eliphalet Pearson, Eleazar James, Jonathan Burr, Nathan Read, and Timothy Lindall Jennison. The poem mocks these authority figures, but it spares Samuel Williams, whom it suggests was the only professor to find their antics humorous.

Letter from William Croswell to [John Quincy Adams], 1833 July

Four pages of notes and copies of letters including two rough drafts of a July 1833 letter presumably written to the former United States President John Quincy Adams.

Letter from William Croswell to John Quincy Adams, 1833 July 9

Two drafts on one leaf of a letter regarding the depreciation of currency.

College Book 8, 1778-1803

This volume contains a fair copy of minutes from Corporation meetings held from May 5, 1778 through October 14, 1803. It begins with an alphabetical index and contains entries related to a wide range of topics, including changes in the College laws; lists of Harvard graduates; historical information about the College and its governance; memorials to the Massachusetts General Court about currency concerns, the West Boston Bridge, and other matters; the establishment of medical professorships and selection of professors to fill them; land and property belonging to Harvard; the settlement of accounts with former College Treasurer John Hancock; support of missionaries to several Indian tribes; the establishment of a student dress code; the Charlestown Ferry, and its revenue troubles following the construction of the West Boston Bridge; the purchase of a wooden sloop for transporting students' "fuel" (presumably firewood); the creation and distribution of library catalogs; the commission of a lucernal microscope for the College Apparatus; Oneida Indian Isaac Solegwaston and Harvard's financial support of his studies at the Hamilton Oneida Academy; transcriptions of a letter (October 23, 1789) from the Corporation to President George Washington and of Washington's response; a petition to the General Court for the establishment of a public infirmary to serve the indigent; individuals who were granted permission to instruct Harvard students in the French language outside the established curriculum; and Thomas Welsh's excused absence from his Harvard graduation, granted June 14, 1798, because of his imminent departure for Berlin to serve as Secretary to John Quincy Adams, then Minister Plenipotentiary to Berlin.

Letters from Thomas Handasyd Perkins to William Tudor,

Four letters in which Perkins relays details of his travels in Europe, local gossip about friends and associates, including John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster, news regarding developments in Boston infrastructure, and updates on the Boston Athenaeum and the Anthology Society. Other topics include domestics politics and the movements and activities of Tudor’s family members.

Letters from Nathaniel Amory to William Tudor,

Four letters from the Boston merchant relaying news about mutual friends and associates, including John Quincy Adams, details about Amory’s real estate losses, and thoughts on Yankee sea captains.

Letters from William Lee to William Tudor,

Five letters in which Lee relays his efforts to obtain a political appointment for Tudor from President James Monroe. He also reports on the activities of Tudor’s brother-in-law, Charles Stewart, and a meeting between John Quincy Adams and Tudor’s brother-in-law, Robert Hallowell Gardiner.

Letters from James Biddle to William Tudor,

Five letters in which Biddle discusses politics, the movements of other naval officers, and general news of friends and associates, including John Quincy Adams. In one letter he asks Tudor to use his influence to persuade the Brazilian government to release captured American seamen.

Letters from Alfred Cobb to William Tudor,

Six letters reporting on communications with American merchants and naval officers, and various incidents involving American vessels. He also comments on the election of John Quincy Adams as president. Cobb includes copies of his correspodence with Lieutenant John Percival regarding the interception of Percival’s ship by Chilean Admiral Manuel Blanco Encalada.

Letters from Z.W. Nixon to William Tudor,

Four letters regarding the legal and financial aspects involving the Chanca silver mine and its stakeholders, Tudor, McCall, Maling, and Prevost, and a copy of a letter from Nixon to Prevost. Nixon additionally comments on domestic news, including the renaming of the U.S.S. Susquehanna as the U.S.S. Brandywine by John Quincy Adams in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette. The ship conveyed Lafayette back to France after his tour of the United States. Nixon also mentions Charles Stewart and his court martial.

Commonplace book of Hector Orr, 1789-1804

Hector Orr began recording entries in this commonplace book during his first year as a student at Harvard and continued writing in the volume sporadically until 1804. The entries written while he was a student, from 1789 to 1792, include themes written on the following topics: Time, Discontent, Patriotism, Virtue, Conscience, Patience, Avarice, Compassion, Mortality, Self-knowledge, Benevolence, Morning, Anger, Profanity, Bribery, Autumn and Winter, Hermitage, Conscience and Anticipation. He also wrote detailed entries about the forensic disputations in which he and his classmates participated, explaining both the affirmative and negative positions. One of these disputations involved discussion of the Stamp Act, which was then quite recent history. Orr's entries about the disputations list the names of students involved and specify their position in the argument.

Rabbinical manuscripts of Judah Monis, ca. 1700s

This leather-bound volume contains ten handwritten Hebrew texts presumably compiled by Judah Monis in the early 18th century. The pieces range from three to 150 pages on different sized leaves and appear to be in multiple hands. The last page of the volume has the struck-through inscription, "Judah Monis' Book" and accompanies a 44-page text. The texts are unattributed and undated, but have been identified as transcriptions of cabalistic writings and include a short biography of Isaac Luria (1533-1572) and extracts from the work of Luria, Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Jacob ben Hayyim Zemah, Abraham ben Isaac of Granada, and Naphtali Bachrach. The transcriptions appear to be unattributed and undated.

Payment order for Samuel Adams on behalf of John Rice, 1772 July 1

Handwritten order to John Sale to pay scholarship funds to Samuel Adams for use by student John Rice (Harvard AB 1774), signed by Charles Chauncey, Thomas Waite, Jonathan Williams, and Daniel Marsh.