Subjects suggested by John Farrar, ca. 1820s

A handwritten letter to President John Thornton Kirkland with five suggested subjects from John Farrar, the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy from 1807 until 1836.

Letter to John Worthington: 13 August 1791

Letter to Worhtington, a Springfield, Massachusetts lawyer, regarding tax on a meeting house near Pittsfield, Massachusetts and public support for ministers.

An elegie on the deplored decease of that truly pious and religious matron, Mrs. Sara Leveret: relict of the late hon[or]able John Leveret, Esq., sometime governor of his then Majesty's colony of the Massethusets [sic] Bay in New England : manuscript, 1704

Autograph copy, signed.

Payment order for Peter Whitney, 1791 July 4

Handwritten order to John Sale to pay scholarship funds to Peter Whitney for use by his son, signed by John Clarke, David Tilden, and James Morrill.

[Letter presenting Judge Lowell's Eulogy of Governor Bowdoin, 1791]

One leaf containing an unsigned draft of a letter presenting John Lowell's published eulogy of Governor James Bowdoin to the recipient by the order of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The eulogy had been delivered by John Lowell on January 26, 1791.

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.

Notes on cases in Barnstable County, 1791

Pamphlet containing notes on various cases, including a case "for not delivering goods put on board the defendant's vessel" and another "for concealing a pregnancy."

Compendium logicæ secundum principia D. Renati Descarte catechisticè propositum : [1693]

Small leather hardcover volume containing a manuscript copy of William Brattle’s abstract of René Descartes’ "Compendium Logicae" copied in Latin, likely by Thomas Phipps in 1693. A crossed out inscription on the inside back cover appears to read “Thomas Phips 1693” likely referring to Thomas Phipps, a member of the Harvard Class of 1695.

Subscription for John Wadsworth Monument, 1801 October 10

Handwritten document acknowledging the receipt of money by Caleb Gannett from a subscription drive to erect a monument for Harvard tutor John Wadsworth who died in 1777 and was buried in the Cambridge burying ground. The document is signed by fourteen individuals and lists their contributions.