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.

Bills Dr. to Tho. Adams late Coll. Butler, 1791

The paper-covered book contains a two column debit and credit entry section for students created by Thomas Adams and updated by Samuel Shapleigh for the Classes of 1792 through 1794. The final page includes the note, "The above is the Balance due to me as Butler of College- Cambridge Novr 15, 1791--Tho Adams." The book includes annotations made at a later date noting students not found in other College records. The cover of the book features an engraving of a young woman in profile.

Letter from Mr. Davis to Samuel Shapleigh, 9 November 1793

Davis requests Shapleigh to send him the remainder of Mr. Adams' bills for settlement.

Bond of Samuel Shapleigh and Thomas Adams to the Harvard Corporation, Aug. 15, 1789

Shapleigh and Adams' signatures have been cut out from the bottom of this document. It was "signed, sealed and delivered" in the presence of Thomas Gray and Darius Shaw.

Power of Attorney, Samuel Shapleigh for Thomas Adams, Jan. 12, 1791

Signed by Thomas Adams and witnessed by Abraham Biglow and Daniel Clarke Sanders.

Student notebook of Samuel Dunbar, 1721-1722

This leather-bound volume contains substantial transcriptions copied by Samuel Dunbar from textbooks while he was a student at Harvard in 1721 and 1722. There is a general index to texts at the end of the volume. Dunbar's notebook provides a window into the state of higher education in the eighteenth century and offers a firsthand account of academic life at Harvard College. Notably, he often indicated the number of days spent copying texts into his book.

Letter from Samuel Willard, Groton, Massachusetts, to William Willard and Katherine Willard, Petersham, Massachusetts, January 19, 1803

Willard discusses his potential future professional plans in either divinity or law. He asks his parents for their advice, compares and contrasts the benefits and disadvantages of each potential profession, and seems to be leaning towards law: “On the other hand my nearsightedness pleads against the profession of divinity. That a clergyman may be useful, he should possess a high degree of sociability, the most winning manners, and an accommodating disposition. In these every one knows me deficient.”