Bill of lading for shipment of four boxes of books, Oct. 20, 1764

This bill of lading is from Jasper Mauduit's shipment of books (his own gift and those bequeathed by Dr. Avery) to Andrew Oliver. The books were shipped from London to Boston via a ship called Hale Galley, under the direction of Captain Harris Hatch.

Report of committee for the form of quarter bills, 1778 December 12

This one-and-a-half page handwritten draft of a report on a folio-sized leaf outlines a six-point process for drafting and authorizing student quarter bills. The procedures consolidate the billing areas, detail the Treasurer's responsibilities, and expand the oversight of the President and Tutors. The report, dated December 12, 1778, is signed by President Samuel Langdon. The draft includes two differently worded versions of the sixth proposal, one of which is struck through.

Bill, 1771 August 23

Handwritten bill from William Manning to Sarah Bordman for "mending shoes for her negro Cato," from May 9, 1770 to July 4, 1770. Payment acknowledged on verso by William Manning, August 23, 1771.

Bill and receipt, 1773

Handwritten contract between John Simonds and Andrew Bordman for writing work done by Simonds' son, William Simonds, "who is under age," signed January 15, 1773, and a receipt for payment signed by William Simonds, July 28, 1773.

Bill, 1774 July 26

Handwritten bill from William Manning to Andrew Bordman for shoes for Bordman and Cato purchased between December 1, 1773 and July 26, 1773. Payment acknowledged by William Manning on verso.

Bill, 1774 October 5

Handwritten bill from William Collson to Andrew Bordman for carpentry work between October 5, 1774 and 1778. Payment acknowledged by William Collson on verso.

Bill, 1778 May 22

Handwritten bill from John Jones to Andrew Bordman for work in June 1776. Payment acknowledged by John Jones on verso.

Bill, 1779 January 19

Handwritten bill from William Collson to Andrew Bordman for carpentry work on January 19, 1779. Payment acknowledged by William Collson on verso.

Collection of Harvard College quarter bill and butler's bills sent to Charles Davis, 1793-1796

This collection consists of one quarter bill and three butler's bills, all sent to Charles Davis while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College. The quarter bill is from August 1795 and the butler's bills are from February and November 1793 and July 1796. John Pipon and Timothy Alden were the butlers at this time, and Caleb Gannett was the steward (responsible for the quarter bill).

Bill of disbursments [for the] sch[oone]r Lydia : manuscript, 1790

List of ship's expenses between Feb. 7 and May 25; dated at Aux Cayes, (Haiti) May 27, 1790; includes money paid to an interpreter at Tobago, workers for ship maintenance, and various harbor officials; and notation of purchases for goods such as sugar, coffee, rice, tar, food, and rum.

Hādhihi Tarjamat quṭb al-wāṣilīn wa-ghawth al-sālikīn al-ʻārif billāh Sayyidī Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Abī al-Maḥāsin al-Qāwuqjī al-Ḥasanī

min qalam ʻAbd al-Qādir al-Adʹhamī al-Ṭarābulusī.

al- Zajr wa-al-iqmāʻ bi-zawājir al-sharʻ al-muṭāʻ li-man kāna yuʼminu billāh wa-Rasūlihi wa-yawm al-ijtimāʻ ʻan ālāt al-lahw wa-al-samāʻ: wa-bi-hāmishihi al-Durar al-durrīyah al-mustanīrah bi-ḥadīth lā ʻadwá wa-lā ṭīrah

li-Abī ʻAbd Allāh Sayyidī Muḥammad ibn al-Madanī Jannūn.

Kitāb Tuḥfat al-silāk fī faḍl al-siwāk / min kalām sayyidinā al-Shaykh al-ʻĀrif billāh taʻālá al-Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Abū al-ʻAbbās Aḥmad al-Zāhid : manuscript, undated

Written in several hands, in one column, 23-24 lines per page, in black rubricated in red.

Sharḥ Kanz al-mughrimīn / lil-Shaykh al-ʻĀrif billāh Ibn Sabʻīn : manuscript, 1593

Title from f. 15r.

The effects of sympatry on patterns of bill morphology between closely related species of birds, worldwide

When closely related species co-occur in sympatry, they face a significant challenge. They must adapt to the same local conditions in their shared environment, which favours the convergent evolution of traits, while simultaneously minimizing the costs of competition for shared resources that typically favours the divergent evolution of traits. Here, we use a comparative sister lineage approach to test how most species have responded to these conflicting selection pressures in sympatry, focusing on a key ecological trait: the bill morphology of birds. If similar bill morphologies incur fitness costs due to species interactions, then we predicted that the bill morphologies of closely related species would differ more in sympatry compared with allopatry. Alternatively, if similar bill morphologies incur fitness benefits due to local adaptation, then we predicted that the bill morphologies would be more similar in sympatry compared with allopatry. We used museum specimens to measure five aspects of bill (maxilla) morphology – depth, length, width, side shape, and bottom shape – in diverse bird species from around the world to test our alternative hypotheses. We found support for both divergent evolution and convergent evolution (or trait retention) in one ecological trait: closely related sympatric species diverged in bill depth, but converged in side shape. These patterns of bill evolution were influenced by the genetic distance between closely related sister taxa and the geographic distance between allopatric lineages. Overall, our results highlight species interactions as an important mechanism for the evolution of some (bill depth), but not all (bill shape), aspects of bill morphology in closely related species in sympatry, and provide strong support for the bill as a key ecological trait that can adapt in different ways to the conflicting challenges of sympatry.