Commonplace book of Hector Orr, 1789-1804

Hector Orr began recording entries in this commonplace book during his first year as a student at Harvard and continued writing in the volume sporadically until 1804. The entries written while he was a student, from 1789 to 1792, include themes written on the following topics: Time, Discontent, Patriotism, Virtue, Conscience, Patience, Avarice, Compassion, Mortality, Self-knowledge, Benevolence, Morning, Anger, Profanity, Bribery, Autumn and Winter, Hermitage, Conscience and Anticipation. He also wrote detailed entries about the forensic disputations in which he and his classmates participated, explaining both the affirmative and negative positions. One of these disputations involved discussion of the Stamp Act, which was then quite recent history. Orr's entries about the disputations list the names of students involved and specify their position in the argument.

Diary of Elias Mann, 1796-1800

Elias Mann kept this diary during his undergraduate years at Harvard College. The diary begins August 17, 1796 and ends in August of 1800 and also includes several undated sheets filled with excerpts of poems. The daily entries describe many aspects of Mann's life, including not only his experiences at Harvard but also his involvement in the larger community. Entries related to life at Harvard describe club meetings (coffee club, Hasty Pudding Club and Phi Beta Kappa); trips to the theater; dinners at taverns; games and recreation, including a card game called "Loo," cribbage, backgammon, bowling, playing ball, fishing, skating and going for sleigh rides; gathering, and sometimes taking from others' gardens, food (most often plums, peaches, nuts and apples); what he ate (including one breakfast of three raw eggs and two glasses of wine); what he read (including Tristram Shandy and one of "Mrs. Ratcliffe's novels"); his friends, often mentioned by name; and academic work and formalities. In one entry he mentions the theft of several possessions from his room, and there are several entries about trips to Fresh Pond.

Letters from Timothy Pickering to his brother and father, 1797-1798

These two handwritten letters by Timothy Pickering were written on February 14, 1797 and June 14, 1798 to his brother John Pickering and his father Timothy Pickering, respectively. The letter to his brother, John, discusses mutual friends, classmate Thomas Lee, and John’s recent attendance at a sermon by Dr. Joseph Priestley. The letter from Timothy to his father includes a discussion of Timothy’s expenses and the amount of money needed to pay his debts, a request for new shoes for commencement, the news of Timothy’s invitation to join honor society Phi Beta Kappa, and a few comments on his forensics course at Harvard.

Poolesville, Maryland and vicinity, 1862 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the untitled historic paper manuscript map: [Map of Poolesville, Maryland and vicinity showing the position of Union brigades]. It was sketched by Union General George Stoneman, Oct. 24th, 1862. Scale not given. Covers a portion of Montgomery County, Maryland from Poolesville to the Potomac River. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Maryland State Plane Coordinate System (in Meters) (Fipszone 1900). All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as roads, towns and villages, drainage, troop location, and more. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps of the Civil War from the Harvard Map Collection. Many items from this selection are from a collection of maps deposited by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States Commandery of the State of Massachusetts (MOLLUS) in the Harvard Map Collection in 1938. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features, in particular showing places of military importance. The selection represents a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes.

Battlefield of Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia and vicinity, 1864 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map: Map of the battle field of Spottsylvania C.H. : showing the field of operations of the Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade U.S.A., from May 8th to 21st, 1865 [i.e. 1864], surveyed under the orders of Bvt. Col. J.C. Duane, Major of Engineers, Chief Engineer, Army of the Potomac, by Bvt. Maj. C.W. Howell, 1st Lieut. of Engineers ; assisted by Messrs. L.C. Oswell, L. Bell, and R.B. Talfor ; J. Bien, lithographer, New York. It was published ca. 1865. Scale [1:15,840]. Covers area surrounding Spotsylvania and Spotsylvania Battlefield, Virginia. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Virginia State Plane North Coordinate System (in Meters) (Fipszone 4501). All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as roads, drainage, dwellings with names of inhabitants, vegetation, Union and Confederate troop lines and defenses, and more. Relief shown by hachures. Includes note. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps of the Civil War from the Harvard Map Collection. Many items from this selection are from a collection of maps deposited by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States Commandery of the State of Massachusetts (MOLLUS) in the Harvard Map Collection in 1938. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features, in particular showing places of military importance. The selection represents a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes.