[Committee report], 1780 May 16

One-page report signed by Hollis Professor Samuel Williams and Tutor William Bentley examining the complaint made by "Kendall" (probably Samuel Kendal, a member of the Class of 1782) of a "great abuse he received after Commons" on May 9, 1780 from Fortescue Vernon (Class of 1780) and Edward Sohier (Class of 1781). The report finds Vernon guilty and recommends a light punishment. Williams and Bentley then propose six regulations intended to keep order after breakfast and dinner service in the dining hall.

Report of committee for the form of quarter bills, 1778 December 12

This one-and-a-half page handwritten draft of a report on a folio-sized leaf outlines a six-point process for drafting and authorizing student quarter bills. The procedures consolidate the billing areas, detail the Treasurer's responsibilities, and expand the oversight of the President and Tutors. The report, dated December 12, 1778, is signed by President Samuel Langdon. The draft includes two differently worded versions of the sixth proposal, one of which is struck through.

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 John Orde Creighton to William Tudor,

Five letters on topics including General Juan Lavalle and warring factions in Buenos Aires and news of mutual friends and associates.

Letters from Michael Hogan to William Tudor,

Four letters discussing news of friends and domestic politics and the presidential election, in addition to trade and purchases of certain goods.

Letters from Stanhope Prevost to William Tudor,

Three letters regarding the Chanca silver mine, news of Bolívar and other South American military officers, and news about mutual friends.

Chronological South American correspondence,

Four letters addressed to Tudor, one letter addressed to B. Llaveria. In Spanish.

Chronological South American correspondence,

Six letters in Spanish.

Letters from Benjamin Welles to John Henry Tudor, 1799-1801

Benjamin Welles wrote these six letters to his friend and classmate, John Henry Tudor, between 1799 and 1801. Four of the letters are dated, and the dates of the other two can be deduced from their contents. Welles wrote Tudor four times in September 1799, at the onset of their senior year at Harvard, in an attempt to clear up hurt feelings and false rumors that he believed had caused a chill in their friendship. The cause of the rift is never fully explained, though Welles alludes to "a viper" and "villainous hypocrite" who apparently spread rumors and fueled discord between the two friends. In one letter, Welles asserts that "College is a rascal's Elysium - or the feeling man's hell." In another he writes: "College, Tudor, is a furnace to the phlegmatic, & a Greenland to thee feeling man; it has an atmosphere which breathes contagion to the soul [...] Villains fatten here. College is the embryo of hell." Whatever their discord, the wounds were apparently eventually healed; in a letter written June 26, 1800, Welles writes to ask Tudor about his impending speech at Commencement exercises. In an October 29, 1801 letter, Welles writes to Tudor in Philadelphia (where he appears to have traveled in attempts to recover his failing health) and expresses strong wishes for his friend's recovery and return to Boston. This letter also contains news of their classmate Washington Allston's meeting with painters Henry Fuseli and Benjamin West.