College Book 6, 1726-1790

College Book 6 is often referred to as the Hollis book, reflecting its contents. It was created following an April 4, 1726 Corporation vote that "Mr. Treasurer procure a Book, into which shall be transmitted, and a Register kept of, Mr Hollis's Rules, orders, Gifts & Bounties past & to come; together with ye Names & age, & Charecter of his Scholars, ye time of their Entry and Dismission; and also all ye Votes of ye Overseers & Corporation from time to time relating to ye said orders, Bounties & Scholars of the said Mr Hollis." Entries are primarily in Benjamin Wadsworth's hand and record donations from Thomas Hollis and his descendants, with transcriptions of related Corporation minutes. They also provide detailed information about the allocation of Hollis funds and scholarships, and the rules governing the Hollis Professorship of Divinity (established in 1721) and the Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy (established in 1727). The volume also contains inventories of books in the official library of the Hollis Professor of Divinity and two inventories – created in 1779 and in 1790 – of the mathematical and philosophical apparatus purchased with Hollis funds. Many entries related to the purchase of scientific instruments and supplies include the cost in sterling of each item. Also included are entries related to financial accounts and expenditures, as well as copies of letters from Nathaniel Hollis.

Diary and commonplace book of Peres Fobes, 1759-1760

The diary and commonplace book of Perez Fobes is written on unlined pages in a notebook with a sewn binding at the top of the pages; only the edge of the original leather softcover remain. The volume holds handwritten entries added irregularly from August 23, 1759 until December 1760 while Fobes was a student at Harvard College. The topics range from the irreverent, to the mundane, to the theological and scientific. The notebook serves to chronicle both his daily activities, such as books he read, lectures he attended, and travel, as well as a place to note humorous sayings, transcribe book passages, or ponder religious ideas such as original sin. In the volume, Fobes devotes considerable space to the subject of astronomy, and drew a picture of the "The Solar System Serundum Coper[nici] with the Or[bit] of 5 Remarkable Comets." At the back of the book, on unattached pages is a short personal dictionary for the letters A-K kept by Fobes.