An abridgment of what I extracted while an undergraduate at Harvard College, 1766-1769

The bound volume contains excerpts copied by Benjamin Wadsworth from books he read as a student at Harvard in the late 1760s. The volume includes almost no personal commentary on the readings. The excerpts are arranged by year of study for the academic years 1766-1769, beginning when Wadsworth was a sophomore. Each entry begins with a title indicating the book title and author for the passage, and there is an alphabetical index at the end of the volume. Wadsworth selected “extracts” from both religious and secular texts including several histories of England, American histories (with a focus on Puritans), the Bible, and in his senior year, “the Koran of Mohammed.” He also read several books on the art of speech and the art of preaching. There are few science texts included, though the final five-page entry is titled, “What I thought fit to note down from Mr. Winthrop’s experimental Lectures” and contains notes both on the content of Professor John Winthrop’s lectures as well as the types of experiments being performed in class. Wadsworth’s commonplace book offers a window on the state of higher education in the eighteenth century and offers a firsthand account of academic life at Harvard College.

Cambridge Diary No. I, 1812-1826

Hand-sewn paper notebook containing brief entries dating from August 4, 1812, to April, 6, 1821.

Conferences, 1817-1821

A handwritten list of the conference subjects of delivered on Commencement and Exhibition Days between 1817 and 1821.

Conferences, 1821-1825

A handwritten list of the conference subjects delivered on Commencement and Exhibition Days between 1821 and 1825.

1821, Catalogus senatus facultatis, eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt in Facultate Medicinæ Collegii Harvardiani. In Cantabrigia constituta.

Hand-sewn paper binding. Handwritten title on paper cover: "Catalogue of Har. Coll. William Winthrop." Includes interleaved pages with biographical information. Asterisks are added next to the names of alumni who died after the Catalogue's publication.