Sermons : manuscript, 1709-1722

64 sermons on verses from John, Proverbs, Revelations, Matthew, and other books of the Bible, with notation of dates and places delivered in and around Boston.

Rule of three : manuscript, 1774

An arithmetic copybook, with accounting problems concerning commercial transactions. There is a reference to the Boston Tea Party in problem no. 68.

Sermons : manuscript, [16--]

Sermons concerning passages from Luke, Matthew, Ephesians, Isaiah, and other books.

Arithmetic copybook : manuscript, [17--]

Arithmetic copybook containing mathematical rules, problems, proofs, and charts of weights and measures.

Sermons : manuscript, [17--]

Sermons chiefly concern the Lord's Prayer.

Diocesan Episcopacy: as Founded on the supposed Episcopacy of Timothy & Titus, subverted in a sermon preached at Harvard College May 9, 1770 at the Lecture founded by Paul Dudley

Two handwritten drafts of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Amos Adams on May 9, 1770 at Harvard College written in the same hand. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Titus 1:5. The first copy (HUC 5340.70) is bound between black paper covers and includes edits and citations written on interleaved pages. The second copy (HUC 5340.70.2) appears to be a subsequent draft of the address with additional edits.

Mr. Abbot's sermon at the Dudleian lecture at Harvard College in Cambridge August 29, 1764 pm: being the third in course on the important subject of Reveal'd-religion

The hand-sewn notebook contains a 27-page manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Hull Abbot on August 29, 1764 at Harvard College on the topic of revealed religion. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Zech. 4:6 and Rom. 10:18. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The lecture was not printed.

Sermon at the annual Dudleian lecture, May 13th, 1772

The hand-sewn notebook contains a 108-page manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Benjamin Stevens on May 13, 1772 at Harvard College. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Heb. 1:1, 2. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The cover page is no longer attached.

A discourse on natural religion: delivered in the Chapel of the University at Cambridge, September 5, 1787

The hand-sewn notebook contains a 35-page manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Simeon Howard on September 5, 1787 at Harvard College. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Acts 17:28. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The covers are no longer with the item. The lecture was not printed.

A discourse on natural religion: delivered in the chapel of the University in Cambridge, September 3r, 1795, at the lecture founded by the Honourable Paul Dudley, Esqr

The hand-sewn notebook contains a manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Thomas Barnard on September 3, 1795 at Harvard College. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Acts 14-57. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The covers are no longer with the item.

Diary : manuscript, 1666-1679, 1723, and 1726

Diary concerning chiefly religious matters, mostly Puritanical confessions of Tompson's piety not living up to the expectation of the Lord. There is also mention of the many afflictions God is "pleased" to bestow upon Tompson's wife.

Mathematical notebook, and commonplace book, circa 1689-1769

Manuscript notebook, possibly kept by Harvard students, containing 17th century English transcriptions of arithmetic and geometry texts, one of which is dated 1689-1690; 18th century transcriptions from John Ward’s “The Young Mathematician’s Guide”; and notes on physics lectures delivered by John Winthrop, the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard from 1738 to 1779. The notebook also contains 18th century reading notes on Henry VIII, Tudor succession, and English history from Daniel Neal’s “The History of the Puritans” and David Hume’s “History of England,” and notes on Ancient history, taken mainly from Charles Rollin’s “The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians and Grecians.” Additionally included are an excerpt from Plutarch’s “Lives” and transcriptions of three articles from “The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle,” published in 1769: “A Critique on the Works of Ovid”; a book review of “A New Voyage to the West-Indies”; and “Genuine Anecdotes of Celebrated Writers, &.” The flyleaf contains the inscription “Semper boni aliquid operis facito ut diabolus te semper inveniat occupatum,” a variation on a quote of Saint Jerome that translates approximately as “Always good to do some work so that the devil may always find you occupied.” In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Harvard College undergraduates often copied academic texts and lecture notes into personal notebooks in place of printed textbooks. Winthrop used Ward’s textbook in his class, while the books of Hume, Neal, and Rollin were used in history courses taught at Harvard in the 18th century.

Rabbinical manuscripts of Judah Monis, ca. 1700s

This leather-bound volume contains ten handwritten Hebrew texts presumably compiled by Judah Monis in the early 18th century. The pieces range from three to 150 pages on different sized leaves and appear to be in multiple hands. The last page of the volume has the struck-through inscription, "Judah Monis' Book" and accompanies a 44-page text. The texts are unattributed and undated, but have been identified as transcriptions of cabalistic writings and include a short biography of Isaac Luria (1533-1572) and extracts from the work of Luria, Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Jacob ben Hayyim Zemah, Abraham ben Isaac of Granada, and Naphtali Bachrach. The transcriptions appear to be unattributed and undated.

Summons and recognizance for Hugh Woodcock, 1730

An early colonial summons and recognizance for Hugh Woodcock, who was charged with adultery. John Shoreland was surety for Woodcock's appearance in court. Woodcock failed to appear, and Shoreland failed to produce him, so the Court declared a default and ordered Shoreland's arrest and detention.

The petitioners for settling His Majesties lands and islands lying between Nova Scotia and the province of Main in New England in America : manuscript, [ca. 1720]

Written in an unidentified hand, signed by Barkstead.