Junior Classology, [1820]

Handwritten copy of "Junior Classology on two leaves of unlined legal-sized paper. The verses begin, "Songs of Scholars, in reveling roundelays, / Belch'd out with hiccoughs at Bacchanal Go..." and ending "We'll ne'er be afraid, boys, tho' Tutors parade, boys; / Here's a health to the blade, boys, who loves a high go."

Samuel Phillips donation (printed circular), 1794

Two-leaf printed circular regarding the distribution of religious books according to the bequest of the estate of Samuel Phillips. The circular lists Eliphalet Pearson as a member of the Committee for distributing books. There is a struck-through handwritten note about the distribution of Dr. Watt's Divine Songs. The circular has the inscription: "Papers of 1794. College Papers."

A collection of the most approved pieces of music from various authors: transcribed while member of Harvard University, from July 1789 to July 1793

John Pierce kept this journal while he was a student at Harvard College. It consists of manuscript musical scores with annotations indicating the occasions at which the music was performed. These occasions included commencements, public exhibitions and Dudleian lectures. A note indicates that one anthem was prepared by Samuel Holyoke at Pierce's request, to be performed at Pierce's class commencement exercises, held on July 13, 1793. Several annotations were made in May 1794, the year following Pierce's graduation. There is a table of contents on the last page.

Description of a College Chamber (manuscript copy), ca. 1744

This humorous, rhyming poem appears to have been co-authored by Thomas Handcock of Massachusetts and Richard Waterman of Warwick, Rhode Island. The document is also signed by Catharine Waterman. Neither of the authors attended Harvard College, and the circumstances of this poem's creation are not known. The poem suggests that they composed the poem while visiting - uninvited - the room of "honest Bob." The poem describes the contents of this college chamber, including the following items: an oak table with a broken leg; paper, a pen, and sand for writing; books, including "Scotch songs," philosophy, Euclid, a book of prayer, Tillotson, and French romances; pipes and tobacco; mugs; a broken violin; copperplate and mezzotint prints; a cat; clothes; two globes; a pair of bellows; a broom; a chamber pot; a candle in a bottle; tea; cups and saucers; a letter to Chloe, to whom the room's inhabitant apparently owed money; a powder horn; a fishing net; a rusty gun; a battledore; a shuttlecock; a cannister; a pair of shoes; and a coffee mill. The poem references events related to the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748); British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon's siege of Portobello (in present-day Panama) in 1739; the "Rushian War" (perhaps the Russo-Swedish War of 1741-1743); and the War of Jenkins' Ear (the cat in the college chamber, like British Captain Robert Jenkins, has lost an ear).

Poems copied by James Diman, ca. 1730-1733

Small pamphlet-sized notebook containing handwritten transcriptions of three poems copied by James Diman, likely in the early 1730s. The notebook contains "The Catholic Remedy. to ye Tune of To all you Ladies, not at land &c.," "Father Ab--y's Will. Col. Sweeper Camb: Dec. 1731," and "The Poet's Lamentation for ye Loss of his cat, w'ch he used to call his Muse" copied from the London Magazine, November 1733. The "Catholic Remedy" begins "You Peope who desire to mend / your Desperate Estate..." and includes the note, "Made upon A--D--'s goving over to take orders. The note refers to the voyage of Addington Davenport (Harvard AB 1719) to England join the priesthood of the Church of England in 1730. "Father Ab--y's Will" begins "To my dear Wife, / My joy and Life..." and was a humorous poem published in 1731 after the death of Harvard College Sweeper Matthew Abdy, and attributed to Jonathan Seccombe (Harvard AB 1728). The "Poet's Lamentation" begins "Oppress'd with Grief, in heavy strains I mourn..." and was written by Joseph Green (Harvard AB 1726) as a parody of a psalm composed by Mather Byles (Harvard AB 1725). Pages 10-12, holding part of "Father Ab--y's Will" are missing, and pages 13-15 are no longer attached to the item.

Commonplace book of John Bullard, 1775-1779

This bound volume contains excerpts copied by Jonathan Bullard from books he read as a student at Harvard in the mid 1770s. Excerpts include an unattributed poem titled "On Friendship," which appeared in the "poetical essays" section of Volume 36 of the London Magazine in 1767; Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion, 1736; The Quaker's Grace; a history of England; Newton's laws; Plutarch's Morals; Benjamin Franklin's writings on the Aurora Borealis. The volume also includes several extracts from articles about the death of John Paddock (Class of 1776), who drowned in the Charles in the summer of 1773, sheet music for two songs, "The Rapture," and "A Song" from Henry Harington's "Damon and Chlora," and a transcription of the satirical "Book of Harvard," written in response to the Butter Rebellion of 1766. Interleaved in the middle of the volume is a transcription from an ecclesiastical event moderated by Ebenezer Bridge in Medford, Mass. on November 20, 1779. The variety of texts suggests the commonplace book was not used solely for academic works.

Letters from T. Morton Jones to William Tudor,

Five letters, in which Jones recounts a club meeting and toasts and songs given, and provides updates on the business and descriptions of nail manufacture and design. He also comments on fashions of the day and includes an anectdote about a lecture he attended that was so dull, one audience member "fell fast asleep & tumbled down with a crash that startled everyone in the room." Letter dated 1814 March 24 is addressed to "Fanny" but also contains a message to Tudor from Jones.