An Oration Delivered on the eighth day of May one thousand seven hundred and seventy nine. At the Funeral of the Hon'ble John Winthrop..., 1779-1780

Small pamphlet bound in brown paper containing a handwritten nine-page copy of Stephen Sewall's funeral oration for Hollis Professor Mathematics and Natural Philosophy John Winthrop delivered May 8, 1779. The title page includes the inscription: "The lips of the wise disperse knowledge,/ A Man shall be comended [sic] according to his Wisdom -- Solomon."

Manuscript copy of the book of Harvard, 1767

The pamphlet-sized manuscript includes "The Book of Harvard" signed "Joseph Cummings, scriptis, Janr 7th 1767," an untitled two-page essay beginning, "Wisdom is ye Crown of life" and ending "Draught of Knowledge, let us with a laudable ambition, strive to excel each other in an ardent pursuit of Learning, then shall we raise to ourselves a monument of honest fame, which shall perish only in ye general wreak of nature," and on the last page, "An Accrostick" beginning "Jangling & Discord are thy Souls delight" and spelling out JAMES MITCHEL VARNUM dated July 3, 1767 and signed "The 3d edition revised & improved by Gove & Fogg."

Commonplace book of Jonathan Belcher, 1725-1727

This leather-bound volume contains excerpts copied by Jonathan Belcher from books he read while he was a student at Harvard. The excerpts come from a variety of sources including periodicals and contemporary publications. The inside cover has Belcher's bookplate with the motto, "Sustine. Abstine." The back cover has some additional personal information including reference to French lessons with "Mr Law Merciers," and notes of the dates when he began certain books/essays.

Letter from Benjamin Colman to Edward Wigglesworth about John Leverett, 1728 March 4

Benjamin Colman wrote this letter to Edward Wigglesworth on March 4, 1728; it was sent from Colman, in Boston, to Wigglesworth, in Cambridge. The letter concerns their mutual friend, John Leverett, who had died several years before. It appears that Wigglesworth was charged with writing an epitaph for Leverett and had solicited input from Colman. Colman writes of his great admiration for Leverett, praising his "virtue & piety, wisdom & gravity [...] majesty & authority [...] eye & voice, goodness & courtesie."