Triennial Catalogue annotated by Jeremy Belknap, 1791

The collection holds a heavily interleaved 1791 Triennial Catalogue annotated, in part, by Jeremy Belknap. A note by Harvard Librarian John Langdon Sibley, on the verso of the flyleaf, indicates a second annotator: "It should be observed that this catalogue is in the handwriting of two persons, Dr. Belknap & probably interlineations & additions by Rev. Dr. [John] Eliot. The interlineing part should not be too confidently relied on for accuracy. J. L. Sibley, April 14, 1848." The volume contains biographical notes, newspaper clippings, excerpts from manuscript and printed sources such as New England's First Fruits, the manuscript memoirs of Charles Chauncey, and John Winthrop's Journal, and a 1795 letter from Isaac Mansfield. In the letter, Mansfield references an item he believed to be written by his grandfather, Ames Cheever (Harvard AB 1707), and briefly describes his grandfather. A list of election sermon orators with dates is also pasted into the inside back cover, along with an obituary of the Rev. John Wales (Harvard AB 1728) from the Boston Post-Boy, March 4, 1765.

Index of Harvard graduates in the classes of 1642-1772, (manuscript notebook), ca. 1772-1791

Notebook containing an alphabetical index of Harvard graduates from 1642 to 1772. The author is unidentified, but the handwriting appears to be that of Harvard President Samuel Langdon (president from 1774 - 1780). The names are arranged alphabetically by surname. Each entry includes the graduate's name, additional degrees (Master, STD, MD, etc.), the year of graduation, and an asterisk if the individual was deceased. The asterisks are included for some graduates who died in 1791, indicating the work was created and updated between 1772 and 1791.

Alphabetical catalog of Harvard College graduates through 1767, 1767

This hard-bound manuscript catalog alphabetically lists the men who graduated from Harvard College between 1642 and 1767. It is believed to be the first such list compiled. Entries contain each graduate's surname (in English), given name (in Latin), year of graduation, and occasional additional information. Francis Foxcroft (A.B. 1712) compiled the catalog. Entries for those who graduated between 1764 and 1767 have been added at the end of each alphabetical section.

Questiones propositae pro modulo discutiendae Comitiis publicis Harvardini Collegii quod est divin. provid. Cantabrigiae Nov-Anglorum a Laureae Magistralis candidatis, 1660-1753

The bound volume holds handwritten transcriptions of selected Harvard Commencement Quaestiones copied by Isaac Mansfield (Harvard AB 1742). The manuscript volume includes from the 1708 Quaestiones onward, the notation "N.B." next to questions performed by the candidate during the Commencement exercises; the original printed Quaestiones sheets do not note this information. The volume includes Quaestiones transcriptions for which no original broadsides are known to still exists.

A catalogue of books [donated by Jasper Mauduit] in the library of Harvard College [at]: Cambridge in New England, 1765

This leatherbound volume lists books donated to the Harvard College Library by Jasper Mauduit, who served as an agent in London on behalf of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. Entries are arranged alphabetically and by format; i.e. the first page lists all folios whose author, title, or keyword begin with "A," the next page lists all quartos beginning with "A," and the following page lists all "octavo &ca" volumes beginning with "A." The volume continues in a similar manner for each letter of the alphabet. Following a devastating fire in 1764 which destroyed most of the books in the Harvard College Library, Mauduit donated books, as well as money for the purchase of books, to the College. He also acted as an agent of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England and Parts Adjacent, using the £300 they donated for the rebuilding of the College library to select and purchase a large number of books. It is not known if the books listed in this catalog are those donated by Mauduit himself, or if they are the donations he purchased on behalf of the Society. The creator of this volume is unknown; although all entries are made in the same hand, the identity of the writer has not been determined. The label attached to the front cover, which refers to the Lime Street address of Mauduit's business in London, suggests that the list might have been prepared by Mauduit himself.

Letter of recommendation for Amos Main from Joseph Moodey to Nathan Prince, 1725 July 2

Handwritten letter sent by Joseph Moody, schoolmaster in York, to Harvard Tutor Nathan Prince recommending student Amos Main for acceptance to the College. In the letter, Moody requests Prince give Main an examination for admission, with the caveat that though Main has been studying Latin and Greek he has a difficult home life and is "somewhat Raw; yet I hope you'l wink at it." The letter, dated July 2, 1725, is written on a folded folio-sized leaf; there are handwritten notes about Massachusetts towns on the verso.

The petitioners for settling His Majesties lands and islands lying between Nova Scotia and the province of Main in New England in America : manuscript, [ca. 1720]

Written in an unidentified hand, signed by Barkstead.

Diary of Elias Mann, 1796-1800

Elias Mann kept this diary during his undergraduate years at Harvard College. The diary begins August 17, 1796 and ends in August of 1800 and also includes several undated sheets filled with excerpts of poems. The daily entries describe many aspects of Mann's life, including not only his experiences at Harvard but also his involvement in the larger community. Entries related to life at Harvard describe club meetings (coffee club, Hasty Pudding Club and Phi Beta Kappa); trips to the theater; dinners at taverns; games and recreation, including a card game called "Loo," cribbage, backgammon, bowling, playing ball, fishing, skating and going for sleigh rides; gathering, and sometimes taking from others' gardens, food (most often plums, peaches, nuts and apples); what he ate (including one breakfast of three raw eggs and two glasses of wine); what he read (including Tristram Shandy and one of "Mrs. Ratcliffe's novels"); his friends, often mentioned by name; and academic work and formalities. In one entry he mentions the theft of several possessions from his room, and there are several entries about trips to Fresh Pond.

Collection of Harvard College bills sent to George Wingate, 1792-1796

This collection of bills, sent to George Wingate while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College from 1792 to 1796, includes quarter bills, butler's bills, and bills and receipts of payment from two women, Mary Hilliard and Mary Kidder, who provided Wingate room and board ("board and chamber"). The butlers bills were created by the two men who held that position during Wingate's time as a student, John Pipon and Timothy Alden. Caleb Gannett was the steward the entire time, and thus creator of all the quarter bills. Some of the bills indicate charges for sizings and fines for punishments, and a bill from Mary Hilliard indicates that Wingate purchased candles, blank books and sheets of paper from her.

Short nomenclator or vocabular in English and Hebrew: composed alphabetically for the use and benefit of my pupils in particular and for the advantage of those who are desirous to obtain the knowledge of the Hebrew tongue in general, which may be that great help to understand not only ye sacred oracles in their original, but even any Jewish author (so far as concern owns) as also it may give great insight in ye tongue to those, as to compose it, a work altogether new, [ca. 1735]

Headed on the first page with the words "Nomenclatura hebraica," this handwritten volume is a vocabulary with the Hebrew word in the left column, and the English translation on the right. While the book is arranged in sections by letter, individual entries do not appear in strict alphabetical order. The small vocabulary varies greatly and includes entries like enigma, excommunication, and martyr, as well as cucumber and maggot. There are translations of the astrological signs at the end of the volume. Poem written at the bottom of the last page in different hand: "Women when good the best of saints/ that bright seraphick lovely/ she, who nothing of an angel/ wants but truth & immortality./ Verse 2: Who silken limbs & charming/ face. Keeps nature warm."

Theses, in Comitiis publicis Harvardini Collegii quod est Cantabrigiae Nov-Anglorum, defensae & pro viribus propugnatae a Juvenibus in Artibus initiatis, [1660-1753]

The bound volume holds handwritten transcriptions of selected Harvard Commencement Theses copied by Isaac Mansfield (Harvard AB 1742). The manuscript volume holds only the Theses chosen for public disputation. The volume includes Theses transcriptions for which no original broadsides are known to still exists.

Diary of John Page, 1757-1781

Manuscript volume. The first thirty-nine pages include diary entries from Page's years as an undergraduate student at Harvard College. Dated July 1757 through March 1761, entries includes short notes about daily activities. Topics covered include expenses, academics, clothing, and travel to and from Cambridge. Twenty-two pages covering 1764 through 1781 contain brief listings of items, generally foodstuffs, received from male and female Danville parishioners identified by name in Danville. The final twenty-six pages contain notes listing area deaths, as well as his own thoughts on topics such as "of light" and "jealousy." The concluding pages include rules "Concerning Grammar."

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.

Notebook of Tristram Gilman, 1757-1761

The small volume holds the notebook of Tristram Gilman interleaved on unlined pages in a printed engagement calendar. The original leather cover accompanies the notebook, but is no longer attached. The inside covers of the original leather binding are filled with scribbled words and notes. The volume holds a variety of handwritten notes including account information, transcriptions of biblical passages and related observations, travel information, community news, weather, and astronomy. The volumes does not follow a chronological order, and instead seems to have been repurposed at various times.

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.