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.

The report of the committee about Harvard Coledge: presented to the Generall Court held the 3 of (3) month, 1654

Two folio-sized leaves with a handwritten draft of the May 3, 1654 report of a General Court Committee authorized to investigate the financial state of Harvard College. The report responds directly to eight questions raised in the September 10, 1653 Order of the General Court that established the Committee. The report provides summaries of Harvard's income sources and disbursements, offers recommendations regarding the President's salary and the allowances for the academic Fellows, steward, butler, and cook, and indicates specific contributions from local towns.

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.

Theses of 1663

Handwritten document written in Latin and dated August 1663 purported to be the Harvard College Commencement Theses of 1663, but considered by John Noble of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts to be a contemporary parody. Noble notes of the 1663 Theses, that "there seems to be no reason to doubt that this is a genuine, original manuscript of the date which it bears," but describes it as a "blaze of literary and scholastic pyrotechnics" that suggests it was created satirically (John Noble, "Harvard Theses of 1663" in the Publications of the Colonial Society, Volume V: Transactions, April 1898, pages 322-339).

Relation de ce qui s'est passé en Canada depuis le départ des vaissaux de l'année 1694 jusq'au départ des vaisseaux 1695 : manuscript, [not before 1695]

Mentions Governor-General Louis de Frontenac, Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac, commandant of the Michilimackinac station, and the Iroquois Indian tribe.

Deed of feoffment for property in Cambridge, Massachusetts: from Thomas Sweetman to Michael Spencer, 1677 December 10

In this deed of feoffment, written on Dec. 10, 1677, Thomas Sweetman agreed to sell his dwelling house, barn, and orchard to his son-in-law, Michael Spencer, for the cost of eighty pounds sterling. The property was located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on what was then the northwest corner of the grounds of Harvard College, and was sold "together with the wood lot upon the rocks and cow commons belonging to it." The deed specifies that both Sweetman and his wife Isabel were to be allowed to occupy the property until their deaths, and further explains that Spencer and his family were already living in the dwelling house, occupying three rooms. The document was signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of Daniel Gookin, Jr. and John Bridgham. It was also signed by Thomas Sweetman.

Notes : manuscript, [16---17--]

Notes on and excerpts of materials used by Harvard undergraduates in the 17th and early 18th cent.; including Prolegomena de arte in genere; William Brattle's A compendium of logick; Alexander Richardson's In dialecticam brevis commentatio; Grammatica hebraea; and other works.

Commonplace book : manuscript, [16--]

Notes concerning verses of the Bible, and moral and religious issues.

Sermons : manuscript, 1694-1695

Autograph manuscript, signed, probably written in Boston.

Letter from Artemas Ward to Benjamin Stone, 1787 July 18

Artemas Ward wrote this letter to Benjamin Stone on July 18, 1787, expressing his concern about the expense of his son, Henry Dana Ward's, imminent studies at Harvard. Ward complains to Stone about his own debts and the failure of the government to honor their financial obligations to him, and he also expresses hope that the President of Harvard will allow his son to spend part of his time "keeping a school" during his freshman and sophomore years, thus earning an income sufficient to pay for his studies. Ward also suggests that it might be preferable that his son board with a respectable family, rather than live at the College.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sermons on sacrament days : manuscript, [ca.1650-1685]

13 autograph manuscript sermons (undated), including table of contents.At end are three pages of notes on a sermon by Mr. Mather.