Letters from William Croswell to John Thornton Kirkland, 1820 April-August

This folder contains copies of three brief letters from Croswell to Harvard President Kirkland, dated April 5, 1820, July 6, 1820, and August 28, 1820, requesting payment.

Payment order for Ebenezer Thayer, 1788 July 1

Handwritten order to John Sale to pay scholarship funds to Ebenezer Thayer for use by his son, signed by John Clarke, James Thwing, and Jacob Williams.

[Letter from William Emerson to John Sale], 1819 December 3

Letter signed by William Emerson requesting John Sale pay the scholarship funds. The author of the letter is likely the son of the Reverend William Emerson, who died in 1811. William Emerson (1801-1868) received an AB from Harvard in 1818; his brother Ralph Waldo Emerson (Harvard AB 1821) received the Penn Scholarship from 1817 to 1820.

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.

Annotated almanac, 1788

Almanac interleaved with pages containing household account entries and containing annotations on the calendar pages. The interleaved pages contain entries of baptisms and burials, accounting records and notes of household activities, including entries related to boarders. One of the pages has a short list of some topics in the periodical The Spectator.

VIII. Harvard College Papers, 1st series, Volume 8, 1815-1820 (bulk 1815-1819)

The eighth volume of College Papers contains original documents dating from 1815 to 1819, spanning the tenures of president John Thornton Kirkland and treasurer John Davis. Much of the volume consists of general administrative correspondence exchanged between Kirkland and Davis. It also contains a document from 1820.

VIII. Harvard College Papers, 1st series, Volume 8, 1815-1820 (bulk 1815-1819)

The eighth volume of College Papers contains original documents dating from 1815 to 1819, spanning the tenures of president John Thornton Kirkland and treasurer John Davis. Much of the volume consists of general administrative correspondence exchanged between Kirkland and Davis. It also contains a document from 1820.

Journal of Charles Coffin and David Gurney, 1781-1785

This diary appears to have been kept by two different students, both members of the Harvard College class of 1785. The first two pages contain entries made by a student named David, believed to be David Gurney because the entries relate to the freshman curriculum and Gurney was the only student named David who was a freshman in 1781. Gurney originally titled the volume "A Journal or Diary of my concerns in College of important matters." He made entries from August 28 through October 21, 1781, recording his lessons on Virgil, Tully, Homer, the Greek Testament, Hebrew grammar, English author John Ash's "Grammar," and a text called "The Art of Speaking." At the top of one of the pages recounting these studies, Gurney wrote in large, bold letters: "About how I misspent my precious time." Charles Coffin's entries begin on October 25, 1781 and fill the bulk of the journal. Coffin kept this diary while a student at Harvard College from 1781 to 1785. Although most of Coffin's entries are written in Latin, an account of his July 1781 examination for admission to the College is in English.

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.