[Draft of a committee report, 1790]

Two folio-sized leaves containing a handwritten draft of a report of a committee explaining proposed changes to the academic schedule of Harvard undergraduates. The report discusses the rearrangement of lectures, exercises, disputations, and recitations and the specific reasoning behind the changes. The first page of the report is written on the verso of an essay by student Henry Daingerfield titled, "Wishing of all employments is the worst," and the second page of the report is written on the verso of an essay on the importance of teaching morals to the young by Bradstreet Story (later known as Dudley Story Bradstreet, Harvard AB 1792), dated 1790.

Records of the Debating Club of Resident Graduates, 1792-1793

This journal contains minutes from meetings held from February 1792 through October 1793. These minutes include the names of participants and the questions and arguments which were debated, including: whether or not French slaves in the West Indies should be emancipated; whether or not reading novels was beneficial; whether sermons were more effective when memorized than when simply read; whether theater contributed to corrupt morals; whether drunkenness or gambling was more detrimental to society; and whether or not French assistance to the colonies in their Revolutionary War provided sufficient cause for the United States to join with France in its own wars. Most of the topics of debate centered on religion, government and education. Several entries also include notes on related topics of discussion, including the reasons for Native American tribes' hostilities against federal authorities, and there are several references to published works which were cited and consulted in the course of debate.

Commonplace book of John Bullard, 1775-1779

This bound volume contains excerpts copied by Jonathan Bullard from books he read as a student at Harvard in the mid 1770s. Excerpts include an unattributed poem titled "On Friendship," which appeared in the "poetical essays" section of Volume 36 of the London Magazine in 1767; Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion, 1736; The Quaker's Grace; a history of England; Newton's laws; Plutarch's Morals; Benjamin Franklin's writings on the Aurora Borealis. The volume also includes several extracts from articles about the death of John Paddock (Class of 1776), who drowned in the Charles in the summer of 1773, sheet music for two songs, "The Rapture," and "A Song" from Henry Harington's "Damon and Chlora," and a transcription of the satirical "Book of Harvard," written in response to the Butter Rebellion of 1766. Interleaved in the middle of the volume is a transcription from an ecclesiastical event moderated by Ebenezer Bridge in Medford, Mass. on November 20, 1779. The variety of texts suggests the commonplace book was not used solely for academic works.

Ahlâk-ı alâ'î : manuscript, undated

A work on morals, completed on 25 Safer 973 AH [21 Sept. 1565 AD], while the author was serving as judge in Damascus. First section is on personnal morals, second on family morals and third on political morals and art of governance.