Payment order to the Harvard College Treasurer, 1721 August 15

This slip of paper contains a request from President John Leverett to the College Treasurer John White to pay William Cook for his work as library keeper, pursuant to a Harvard Corporation vote on June 28, 1720.

Letter from John Leverett to an unidentified recipient (fragment), 1721 August 28

Three octavo-sized leaves containing a handwritten letter from President Leverett to an unidentified recipient with detailed notes and extracts of Harvard Corporation votes related to non-resident Fellows of the Corporation. The names of the non-resident Fellows are listed in page margins. The letter begins: "Rev'd & Dear Sr. Pursuant to your desire I have collected the names of the non-resid't Fellows of the Corporation..." The fourth leaf containing the seventh page of text is no longer with the item.

Some Acct. of Sev'l things relating to the College contain'd in ye Charter Laws &c with references to the originals (manuscript partial copy), [1721 October]

Two octavo-sized leaves with four half-page columns containing a handwritten copy, made by President Leverett, of an October 17, 1721 a paper composed by Nicholas Sever and William Welsteed to Judge Samuel Sewall.

The Memorial of Nicholas Sever, and William Welsteed (manuscript copy), 1721 June 21

One folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten draft of the June 21, 1721 memorial from Nicholas Sever and William Welsteed to the Harvard Board of Overseers. The document is labeled "a true copy" and begins, "Sheweth That ye next &..." and contains struck-through words and edits.

An Acct of Several things relating to ye Coll: contained in ye Charter Laws &c: w'th references to the Originals (manuscript copy), 1721 October 17

Two folio-sized leaves containing a three-page handwritten report sent by Nicholas Sever and William Welsteed to Judge Samuel Sewall outlining the historical precedence for the Tutors' claims. The body of the text begins, "What we assert in ye first place..."

Remarks on ye Coll: Charter, Laws, & form of Installm't of Fellows (manuscript copy), [1721]

Two folio-sized leaves containing a two-page handwritten copy of a paper in Nicholas Sever's hand outlining his interpretation of Harvard records related to membership in the Harvard Corporation. This item is a different version of another copy in this collection (UAI 20.718 Box 1, Folder 4) The document begins, "When ye College was Incorporated it seems yt: all its Affairs were intirely (sic) put into ye hands of ye Corporation..."

Remarks on ye Coll: Charter, Laws, etc. (manuscript copy), [1721]

One folio-sized leaf containing a two-page handwritten copy of a paper in Nicholas Sever's hand outlining his interpretation of Harvard records related to membership in the Harvard Corporation. This item is a different version of another copy in this collection (UAI 20.718 Box 1, Folder 3) The document begins, "When ye College was Incorporated it seems yt: all its Affairs were intirely (sic) put into ye hands of ye Corporation..."

Memorial to Overseers (manuscript copy), 1721

One folio-sized leaf containing a one-and-a-half-page handwritten draft of a memorial to the Overseers in Nicholas Sever's hand requesting the resident Fellows receive membership in the Corporation. The text of the memorial begins, "Shewith That by ye Charter of 1650, whc: ye College is now upon ye Next & Immediate Governm't : of ye Society is limited to ye Corporation."

Student notebook of Samuel Dunbar, 1721-1722

This leather-bound volume contains substantial transcriptions copied by Samuel Dunbar from textbooks while he was a student at Harvard in 1721 and 1722. There is a general index to texts at the end of the volume. Dunbar's notebook provides a window into the state of higher education in the eighteenth century and offers a firsthand account of academic life at Harvard College. Notably, he often indicated the number of days spent copying texts into his book.

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.

Some account of a paper call'd the Telltale, begun in colledge Sept 1721

The small leather-bound volume holds two sections, a manuscript student periodical, and written tête-bêche, an exchange on smallpox inoculation followed by notes on the rules and activities of a Harvard College student club. The volume begins with thirteen numbered manuscript issues, written in one hand, of the Tell-Tale running from September 9, 1721 to November 1, 1721. Prefaced, "This paper was entitl'd the Telltale or Criticisms on the Conversation & Beheavour of Scholars to promote right reasoning & good manner," the work is modeled after literary periodicals of the time, including the "Spectator," and is considered the oldest student publication at Harvard. The periodical appears to have circulated in manuscript form. The content varies in format and includes letters between Telltale and correspondents, short essays, and advertisements. Topics discussed include conversation, detraction, and flattery. While not specifically about Harvard it does provide some information about the College including evidence of various student activities and organizations at Harvard in the 1720s. The entry explaining the rules of the Telltale Club is heavily faded and nearly illegible. The Telltale records multiple dreams, which are populated by various characters, such as “beautiful” Kate, two “learned Physicians” debating inoculation, “four Fellows” “pushing and shoving one another,” and a “person of a very Dark & swarthy complexion in a Slovenly Dress with 7 patches & 5 sparks on his Face.”

Sermons on fast days : manuscript, 1678-1684

Autograph manuscript sermons in the hand of William Adams, including table of contents. Three other pieces are by later hands: two (both 1695) by Samuel Danforth, and the last (undated) possibly by Eliphalet Adams, son of William Adams.

Commonplace book of Benjamin Penhallow, 1721-1724

This leather-bound volume contains excerpts copied by Benjamin Penhallow from books he read while he was a student at Harvard in the 1720s. The volume contains extracts from two texts: Johanis Henrici Alstedii's (John Henry Alsted / Johann Heinrich Alsted) Geometria Domini, and the anonymous text "The Legacy of a dying Father; bequeath'd to his Beloved Children, or Sundry Directions in Order unto a well Regulated Conversation," from 1724 (originally published in 1693-4). The last page of text in the volume contains the hymn "The Sacred Content of Praise" first published in 1734, and added after Penhallow's death.

Student notebook of James Varney, 1721-1725

The bound notebook contains academic texts copied by Harvard student James Varney in the early 1720s. The texts are written tête-bêche (where both ends of the volume are used to begin writing). The front paste-down endpaper reads 'James Varney his book 1724,' and the rear paste-down endpaper reads 'Joseph Lovett' [AB 1728].