Un receuil: containing painting, penmanship, algebra and pieces selected from various authors in prose and verse, with a few pieces in French with their translation / by Phebe Folger of Nantucket : manuscript, 1797-1806

Written mostly in a copperplate hand in black ink, and illustrated with watercolor drawings.

IV. Reminiscences of life as an undergraduate at Harvard College from 1793 to 1797, 1837

This memoir, written by White in 1837, describes his undergraduate years at Harvard from 1793 to 1797. It contains lengthy passages about a wide variety of experiences White had as a student. He wrote about his classes and professors, student life, American politics, politics in the world at large, food, his classmates, and many other topics. The memoir includes passages from a diary that White seems to have kept as a student, as well as reflections clearly written later in life. White wrote this memoir in 15 separate notebooks, each embossed with "Platner & Porter, Congress" in the upper left-hand corner. Platner & Porter was the manufacturer of the notebooks.

Minutes of the Proceedings of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, 1775-1776

This is a small, paper-bound "waste book" containing minutes taken by the Secretary pro tempore, Samuel Cooke, at meetings held on the following dates: July 31, 1775; August 8, 1775; August 22, 1775; September 5, 1775; October 3, 1775; October 23, 1775 (fragmentary); November 5, 1775; April 16, 1776; and April 23, 1776. Because these meetings took place during the American Revolutionary War, they were held in the "Council chamber at Watertown."

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).

A catalogue of books in the College library: [which Benjamin Welles wished to read], 1797

In this small paper-bound catalog, Benjamin Welles (1781-1860) listed books in the Harvard College Library which he wished to read. He presumably compiled the list by consulting the Library's 1790 printed catalog, as the works are categorized according to subjects outlined in that catalog (Antiquities, Astronomy, Ancient Authors, Biography, Sacred Criticism, Ethics, Geography, Geometry, History, Nature, Travels / Voyages, Natural Law, Logic, Metaphysics, Miscellaneous Works, Dramatic, Phililogy, Natural Philosophy, Poetry, Rhetoric, and Theology). The final pages of Welles' catalog, which he titles "Another Selection," list additional volumes he wished to read. These are listed alphabetically, A - G. Some titles throughout the catalog have been marked with a "+" perhaps to indicate that Welles had read them.

An abridgment of what I extracted while an undergraduate at Harvard College, 1766-1769

The bound volume contains excerpts copied by Benjamin Wadsworth from books he read as a student at Harvard in the late 1760s. The volume includes almost no personal commentary on the readings. The excerpts are arranged by year of study for the academic years 1766-1769, beginning when Wadsworth was a sophomore. Each entry begins with a title indicating the book title and author for the passage, and there is an alphabetical index at the end of the volume. Wadsworth selected “extracts” from both religious and secular texts including several histories of England, American histories (with a focus on Puritans), the Bible, and in his senior year, “the Koran of Mohammed.” He also read several books on the art of speech and the art of preaching. There are few science texts included, though the final five-page entry is titled, “What I thought fit to note down from Mr. Winthrop’s experimental Lectures” and contains notes both on the content of Professor John Winthrop’s lectures as well as the types of experiments being performed in class. Wadsworth’s commonplace book offers a window on the state of higher education in the eighteenth century and offers a firsthand account of academic life at Harvard College.

Documents: concerning North American Atlantic coastal areas : manuscript, [17--]

Acts, reports, petitions, court opinions, and other documents, spanning 1680-1725, concerning Antigua, Barbados, the Carolinas, St. Christopher [Saint Kitts], Jamaica, New York, Virginia, and other areas on the Atlantic coast.

European and North American Railway, New England and Eastern Canada, 1850 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Map of the European and North American Railway : showing its connection with the railways of the United States & Canada, [by] A.C. Morton, engineer. It was published in 1850 by Bowen & Co. Scale [ca. 1:1,625,000]. Covers New England, eastern New York, and the Maritime Provinces. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the USA Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic projection (Meters). All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as completed, in progress, and proposed railroads, selected towns, drainage, state boundaries, and more. Includes inset: Map showing the plan for shortening the transit between New York & London. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps of New England from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes.