A Book of Accounts beginning Feb. 26 1791, 1791-1799

The marbled-hardcover book contains three sections: a two column debit and credit entry section for students and tutors, a list of "the Bills of the Senior Class calculated" for 1793 and 1794, and at the end of the volume a personal accounting of expenses from February 1797 through January 1799 kept by Shapleigh during the time he was Harvard's Librarian, for services including mending, wood hauling, and "To Miss Morie for cleaning windows & washing sheets," as well as purchases such as books, coffee, and theater tickets.

Record book of the settlement of the estate of Pelatiah Webster, 1795-1799

Manuscript record of the disposition of the estate of Pelatiah Webster, kept by his daughter and executrix, Ruth Webster Perit. Begins with a statement of Pelatiah Webster's death on 2 September 1795, followed by a certified copy of his will. Record also includes letter of administration; list of charges, credits, and debts against the estate; funeral costs; descriptions of properties; income from rents, etc.

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.

Manuscript copy of the book of Harvard, 1767

The pamphlet-sized manuscript includes "The Book of Harvard" signed "Joseph Cummings, scriptis, Janr 7th 1767," an untitled two-page essay beginning, "Wisdom is ye Crown of life" and ending "Draught of Knowledge, let us with a laudable ambition, strive to excel each other in an ardent pursuit of Learning, then shall we raise to ourselves a monument of honest fame, which shall perish only in ye general wreak of nature," and on the last page, "An Accrostick" beginning "Jangling & Discord are thy Souls delight" and spelling out JAMES MITCHEL VARNUM dated July 3, 1767 and signed "The 3d edition revised & improved by Gove & Fogg."

Manuscript copy of the book of Harvard, 1767

Handwritten copy of the Book of Harvard written on one large sheet of paper and signed Boston, January 10th, 1767.

Ledger book of a court clerk, 1768-1773

Ledger book of Isaac Rindge, chief clerk of the court of common pleas in New Hampshire, listing charges to various individuals for writs and fines.

A book of miscellanies, 1770

A legal commonplace book by kept by Henry Wells of Worcester, Mass. Focuses on such topics as libel of a man to his wife, common recovery in writs and deeds, pleadings, trover, damages and costs, imprisonment, leases, mortgages, covenants, and ejectment. Also contains a number of miscellaneous entries touching on abridgements of law texts, minutes of court proceedings, kings of England, and biblical quotes. Five-page index located at the end of the work.

Precedents book of Massachusetts law, 1775

A commonplace book kept by Parsons outling various legal issues including getting a negro with child, slander, deceit, bills of exchange, debt,assault and battery, quantum meruit by a physician, ejectment, covenant, and liberty of the yard. Many of these topics include also forms of declaration.

Book of record for actions under $4.00. 1790-1799

Contains a record of cases which came before Egleston in his capacity as a justice of the peace for Berkshire County. The court was held in his home at Lenox.

Diary and commonplace book of Peres Fobes, 1759-1760

The diary and commonplace book of Perez Fobes is written on unlined pages in a notebook with a sewn binding at the top of the pages; only the edge of the original leather softcover remain. The volume holds handwritten entries added irregularly from August 23, 1759 until December 1760 while Fobes was a student at Harvard College. The topics range from the irreverent, to the mundane, to the theological and scientific. The notebook serves to chronicle both his daily activities, such as books he read, lectures he attended, and travel, as well as a place to note humorous sayings, transcribe book passages, or ponder religious ideas such as original sin. In the volume, Fobes devotes considerable space to the subject of astronomy, and drew a picture of the "The Solar System Serundum Coper[nici] with the Or[bit] of 5 Remarkable Comets." At the back of the book, on unattached pages is a short personal dictionary for the letters A-K kept by Fobes.

Commonplace book of Clement Weeks

Commonplace book containing a transcription of the "The Book of Harvard," a satirical account of the Butter Rebellion of 1766 followed with supplementary text of "The Arguments in Defence of the Proceedings of the Scholars" and "The Confession that was made after all was done." The above occupies pp. 1-14; pp. 15-18 missing. Pages 19-23 hold excerpts from Edward Young's Conjectures on Original Composition. Pages 24-62 hold excerpts from Saint Augustine's Heresies. Finally pages 62-64 hold an excerpt of Druidical maxims from the introduction of the first volume of Paul Rapin de Thoyras' The History of England (1724).

Book of records for the trial of actions begun May 3, 1762 [-1774]

Record book of justice of the peace Eldad Taylor, covering cases of debt, libel, rape, profanity, assault, breach of contract and theft. Each entry gives a full statement of the case and its settlement, including decisions of referees, costs, damages, appeals, etc.

Commonplace book of Nathaniel Freeman, 1786-1787

Nathaniel Freeman made entries in this commonplace book between 1786 and 1787, while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College. The book includes the notes Freeman took during three of Hollis Professor Samuel Williams' "Course of Experimental Lectures," and cover Williams' lectures on "The Nature & Properties of Matter," "Attraction & Repulsion," and "The Nature, Kind, & Affections [?] of Motion." These notes also include one diagram. The book also includes forensic compositions on the subjects of capital punishment, the probability of "the immortality of the soul," and "whether there be any disinterested benevolence." It also includes a poem Freeman composed for his uncle, Edmund Freeman; an anecdote about Philojocus and Gripus; an essay called "Character"; a draft of a letter to the Harvard Corporation requesting that, in light of the public debt, the Commencement ceremonies be held privately to lower expenses and exhibit the merits of economy; and an "epistle" to his father, requesting money. This epistle begins: "Most honored sire, / Thy son, poor Nat, in humble strains, / Impell'd by want, thy generous bounty claims."

Extract from Norwich proprietor's book of records, p. 112, ca. 1775?

Record of parcel of lands in Norwich, CT deeded to a group of individuals including many members of the same families around 1770.

Account book of Mary Hains as executrix of the estate of her husband, James Hains, 1784-1786

James and Mary Hains were residents of Mamaroneck, N.Y.