Mens Sibi Conscia recti, 1760 February 22

Two-page handwritten composition in English signed "Jer'h Belknap Febry 22, 1760." The theme begins, "There is nothing in the world that can give a Man more secret pleasure and satisfaction than to be Conscious to himself of doing right. This is what is called Contentm't" and ends with two lines from Horace in Latin: "Hic murus aheneus esto," and "Nil Conscire sibi." A Latin version of the composition is available in Box 1, Folder 3.

Letter from David Phips to Colonel Jonathan Snelling regarding escort of Governor Hutchinson to Harvard Commencement, 1773 July 12

David Phips wrote this letter to Colonel Jonathan Snelling from Cambridge on July 12, 1773, to inform him that Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson had requested the accompaniment of guards during his travels from Milton to Cambridge on July 21, 1773, to attend the Harvard College Commencement exercises. In the letter, Phips informs Snelling that he has issued warrants to the guards, instructing them to congregate at the Sign of the Grey Hound in Roxbury, Massachusetts at eight o'clock on the morning of the 21st. He explains that twelve other men will march, under the command of Sub-Brigadier Sumner, to the Governor's home in Milton to escort him to Roxbury, where the larger party will assemble. These heightened security measures were certainly prompted by political unrest, although this is not stated explicitly in the letter. Phips concludes by saying: "I shall order a dinner for us at Bradish's, where I hope to have the pleasure to dine with you."

Student essay composed by Thomas Mason, 1796

Three-page folio-sized handwritten student essay composed by Thomas Mason as a Harvard undergraduate. The verso of the last page is inscribed "Mason February 1796." A quotation from Edward Young appears at the top of the first page: "Heaven gives us friends to bless the present science; / Resumes them, to prepare us for the rest." The essay discusses friendship and the death of friends, and begins, "The author of our nature has so constituted it, that pleasure is unknown without the intervention of pain."

Musical commonplace book : manuscript, [approximately 1790-approximately 1810]

Contains songs, partly from English operas, and instrumental music.