Petition to the Massachusetts General Court, 1826 January

Six drafts of a letter.

Memorials to the Massachusetts General Court, 1833-1834

Ten drafts of letters to the Massachusetts General Court written between February 1833 and March 1834.

Lists of books granted to Harvard by the Massachusetts General Court, ca. 1778

The books listed were sequestered from "Cox & Berry's Collection" (British booksellers Cox and Berry) and from Province House, home to the royal Governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony prior to the American Revolution. To the left of each book's title is a number indicating how many copies of that title were received.

Mr. Cline's lectures on anatomy & surgery, 1799-1800 (inclusive)

Volume containing notes on the lectures of Henry Cline (1750-1827), a surgeon at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, England, that were kept by American medical student John Collins Warren in 1799 and 1800. The lectures were on topics including blood, blood vessels, absorbents, cellular membranes, and the nerves. There are annotations in pencil in an unknown hand throughout the volume.

[Grants of the General Court for 1737 and 1750 to President Holyoke], undated

One folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten list of grants received by President Holyoke from the Massachusetts General Court between 1737 and 1750, presumably copied from a record book cited as "M.S. No. II," pages 26-56.

Members of the General Court, 1798-1799

Notebook with paper cover containing a handwritten list of the members of the Massachusetts General Court arranged by county and town. Pearson identified characteristics of the politicians including whether they were chosen by the people or Legislature, were for or against the College, were for or against the Virginia Resolutions, and whether they were "a good Federalist."

Memorial of the President and Fellows of Harvard College to the General Court for the enlargement of their power to hold real estate. Copy, [1797 July 15]

Four folio-sized leaves containing a handwritten copy of a petition to the Massachusetts General Court from the Harvard Corporation requesting the College's amount of tax exempt real estate be enlarged.

Hezekiah Squamauge & Amos Ahatton's petition to ye General Court, 1723 December 25

One-page handwritten petition to the Massachusetts General Court on behalf of "Indian inhabitants in Punkapaugue" regarding help with their "lands, and especially as to our orchards, meddows, and to look after our timber, which has been shamfully cutt down, and carried away to our great damage."

Letter from George Gardner Lee to Loammi Baldwin, 10 January 1814

Lee, a Boston merchant who often represented the city as deputy in the Massachusetts General Court, asks Baldwin if the laborers laying the bricks and stone for University Hall could be loaned for a few days to work on the construction of the South meeting house [New South Church].

No. 6 Rough Draught of Memorial of Col. Officers, [1799 February]

Four folio-sized leaves containing a handwritten draft of a petition to the Massachusetts General Court from the Harvard President and Professors regarding the addition of a clause in a pending tax act denying tax exemptions to the Harvard College officers. The petition specifically responds to the statements in the January 1799 memorial of the Committee of the Town of Cambridge.

No. 7 Answer from Committee of Cambridge to Memorial of President & Professors of H. College, Copy 1799 February

Four octavo-sized leaves containing a handwritten copy of a detailed response by the Committee of the Town of Cambridge (comprised of James Winthrop, William Winthrop, and Ebenezer Stedman) to the memorial of Harvard College officers to the Massachusetts General Court.

College Book 4, 1686-1750

Regular recording of Corporation meetings began in College Book 4, which includes minutes from July 23, 1686 through September 5, 1750. Its spine title reads "College Book 4 & 5" due to a nineteenth century labeling error. The creation of College Book 4 was precipitated by the English Court of Chancery's October 1684 judgment, which annulled the Royal Charter of the Massachusetts Colony and seemed to render the College Charter of 1650 – and with it the Corporation and Board of Overseers – defunct. In May 1686, Joseph Dudley (Harvard AB 1665) received a commission as the President of the Council of New England, and on July 23, 1686, Dudley and the Council met in Boston to create a provisional College governing board led by Increase Mather as Rector of the College and John Leverett and William Brattle as Tutors. The "Rector and Tutors" mirrored in purpose if not in name the Corporation's "President and Fellows," and the agreements of President Dudley and the Council creating the new governing board comprise the first entry in College Book 4. In June 1692, a new act of incorporation for Harvard College was passed in the Massachusetts Legislature and signed by the Governor. The Charter of 1692 merged the functions of the Board of Overseers and the Corporation into one Corporation consisting of the President, Treasurer, and eight Fellows. As the Corporation created by this 1692 act (and modified in later versions of the Charter) grew unwieldy, its members met less frequently. As a result, the Faculty (known until 1825 as the "Immediate Government") assumed more responsibility in managing the College's daily operations and addressing student discipline. On December 6, 1707 the Massachusetts General Court restored the Charter of 1650, thus reestablishing the Board of Overseers and the Corporation as the governing bodies of Harvard College. The changes in name and composition of the Harvard Corporation between 1686 and 1707 are documented in the proceedings recorded in College Book 4.

College Book 8, 1778-1803

This volume contains a fair copy of minutes from Corporation meetings held from May 5, 1778 through October 14, 1803. It begins with an alphabetical index and contains entries related to a wide range of topics, including changes in the College laws; lists of Harvard graduates; historical information about the College and its governance; memorials to the Massachusetts General Court about currency concerns, the West Boston Bridge, and other matters; the establishment of medical professorships and selection of professors to fill them; land and property belonging to Harvard; the settlement of accounts with former College Treasurer John Hancock; support of missionaries to several Indian tribes; the establishment of a student dress code; the Charlestown Ferry, and its revenue troubles following the construction of the West Boston Bridge; the purchase of a wooden sloop for transporting students' "fuel" (presumably firewood); the creation and distribution of library catalogs; the commission of a lucernal microscope for the College Apparatus; Oneida Indian Isaac Solegwaston and Harvard's financial support of his studies at the Hamilton Oneida Academy; transcriptions of a letter (October 23, 1789) from the Corporation to President George Washington and of Washington's response; a petition to the General Court for the establishment of a public infirmary to serve the indigent; individuals who were granted permission to instruct Harvard students in the French language outside the established curriculum; and Thomas Welsh's excused absence from his Harvard graduation, granted June 14, 1798, because of his imminent departure for Berlin to serve as Secretary to John Quincy Adams, then Minister Plenipotentiary to Berlin.

Harvard College Lottery Book, 1794-1797

The long hardcover account book contains handwritten records of the Harvard College Lottery in the hand of College Treasurer Ebenezer Storer. The volume begins with a transcription of the Massachusetts General Court June 13, 1794 legislation sanctioning the lottery, and a note that the managers of the lottery gave security bonds to the Corporation. The bulk of the volume records the activities of the four classes of the lottery including lists of the individual tickets returned by the managers Benjamin Austin Jr., George R. Minot, Henry Warren, and John Kneeland, and the accounts of prizes drawn and tickets returned. The volume has a table of contents and there is a note pasted onto the third page calculating the sum raised if all tickets had been sold.

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.