Binding cost estimates, 1801

This six-page undated list contains volume titles and estimates for the cost of binding them. The list is undated, but one of the first entries contains the note, "from the year 1774 to the present time [1801]."

Classed book list, undated

This four-page undated list contains book titles primarily arranged into classes. The last page is titled, "Books for the red stamp."

A decade of addresses, delivered, from 1820 to 1829, to the senior classes at Bowdoin college : together with an inaugural address : to which is added a Dudleian lecture, delivered May 12, 1830, at Harvard university.

Title of Dudleian lecture: Ordination by elders vindicated.

Index of Harvard graduates in the classes of 1642-1772, (manuscript notebook), ca. 1772-1791

Notebook containing an alphabetical index of Harvard graduates from 1642 to 1772. The author is unidentified, but the handwriting appears to be that of Harvard President Samuel Langdon (president from 1774 - 1780). The names are arranged alphabetically by surname. Each entry includes the graduate's name, additional degrees (Master, STD, MD, etc.), the year of graduation, and an asterisk if the individual was deceased. The asterisks are included for some graduates who died in 1791, indicating the work was created and updated between 1772 and 1791.

College Book 4, 1686-1750

Regular recording of Corporation meetings began in College Book 4, which includes minutes from July 23, 1686 through September 5, 1750. Its spine title reads "College Book 4 & 5" due to a nineteenth century labeling error. The creation of College Book 4 was precipitated by the English Court of Chancery's October 1684 judgment, which annulled the Royal Charter of the Massachusetts Colony and seemed to render the College Charter of 1650 – and with it the Corporation and Board of Overseers – defunct. In May 1686, Joseph Dudley (Harvard AB 1665) received a commission as the President of the Council of New England, and on July 23, 1686, Dudley and the Council met in Boston to create a provisional College governing board led by Increase Mather as Rector of the College and John Leverett and William Brattle as Tutors. The "Rector and Tutors" mirrored in purpose if not in name the Corporation's "President and Fellows," and the agreements of President Dudley and the Council creating the new governing board comprise the first entry in College Book 4. In June 1692, a new act of incorporation for Harvard College was passed in the Massachusetts Legislature and signed by the Governor. The Charter of 1692 merged the functions of the Board of Overseers and the Corporation into one Corporation consisting of the President, Treasurer, and eight Fellows. As the Corporation created by this 1692 act (and modified in later versions of the Charter) grew unwieldy, its members met less frequently. As a result, the Faculty (known until 1825 as the "Immediate Government") assumed more responsibility in managing the College's daily operations and addressing student discipline. On December 6, 1707 the Massachusetts General Court restored the Charter of 1650, thus reestablishing the Board of Overseers and the Corporation as the governing bodies of Harvard College. The changes in name and composition of the Harvard Corporation between 1686 and 1707 are documented in the proceedings recorded in College Book 4.

Abiel Holmes's book: bought Decem'r 23'd anno domini 1780 : manuscript, 1780-1783 and undated

Commonplace book containing excerpts on religion, philosophy, geometry and other subjects; with two fold-out tables, one concerning the "partition of sciences" and the other "grand divisions of Europe."

Letter from David Phips to Colonel Jonathan Snelling regarding escort of Governor Hutchinson to Harvard Commencement, 1773 July 12

David Phips wrote this letter to Colonel Jonathan Snelling from Cambridge on July 12, 1773, to inform him that Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson had requested the accompaniment of guards during his travels from Milton to Cambridge on July 21, 1773, to attend the Harvard College Commencement exercises. In the letter, Phips informs Snelling that he has issued warrants to the guards, instructing them to congregate at the Sign of the Grey Hound in Roxbury, Massachusetts at eight o'clock on the morning of the 21st. He explains that twelve other men will march, under the command of Sub-Brigadier Sumner, to the Governor's home in Milton to escort him to Roxbury, where the larger party will assemble. These heightened security measures were certainly prompted by political unrest, although this is not stated explicitly in the letter. Phips concludes by saying: "I shall order a dinner for us at Bradish's, where I hope to have the pleasure to dine with you."

A catalogue of books in the College library: [which Benjamin Welles wished to read], 1797

In this small paper-bound catalog, Benjamin Welles (1781-1860) listed books in the Harvard College Library which he wished to read. He presumably compiled the list by consulting the Library's 1790 printed catalog, as the works are categorized according to subjects outlined in that catalog (Antiquities, Astronomy, Ancient Authors, Biography, Sacred Criticism, Ethics, Geography, Geometry, History, Nature, Travels / Voyages, Natural Law, Logic, Metaphysics, Miscellaneous Works, Dramatic, Phililogy, Natural Philosophy, Poetry, Rhetoric, and Theology). The final pages of Welles' catalog, which he titles "Another Selection," list additional volumes he wished to read. These are listed alphabetically, A - G. Some titles throughout the catalog have been marked with a "+" perhaps to indicate that Welles had read them.

A plan of Cambridge Green, 1780 September 14

Small pen-and-ink and watercolor drawing of Cambridge Green created by Harvard senior John Davis, presumably as part of his undergraduate mathematical coursework. The map surveys Cambridge Commons and includes a few rough outlines of College buildings and the Episcopal church, and notes the burying ground, and the roads to Charlestown, Menotomy, the pond, Watertown, and the bridge. The original handwritten text is faded and was annotated with additional text by Davis including the note "[taken in my Senior year at H. College Septr 1780] Surveyed in concert with classmates, Atkins, Hall 1st, Howard, Payne, &c.- J. Davis." There is a note that "Atkins afterwards took the name of Tying." Davis refers to Dudley Atkins Tyng, Joseph Hall, Bezaleel Howard, and Elijah Paine, all members of the Harvard Class of 1781.

Sermons : manuscript, 1689-1690

Contains sermons, chiefly by "Mr. Gookin," delivered 18 Aug. 1689-23 Feb. 1690, on faith, theft, adultery, obedience, and other topics. Probably by Nathaniel Gookin (1636-1692; Harvard AB 1675).

Labour. A baccalaureate address delivered before the senior class, Dickinson College, July 7, 1841 /

Mode of access: Internet.

The expenses of a dinner provided at the installation of the Rev'd. Professor Williams, 1780 May 2

Handwritten one-page itemized list of costs for food and supplies purchased for the installation dinner of Samuel Williams (1743-1817) for his appointment as Hollis Professor Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard College. Signed by Caleb Gannett.

Vote related to the case of Packard, 1780 September 11

One-page handwritten draft of a vote of the Harvard Faculty forwarding the case of Asa Packard (Harvard AB 1783), who advanced money to the College steward on June 3, 1780, to the Corporation. The document is signed by Professor Edward Wigglesworth (1731/2-1794), who served as acting president of the College from 1780 to 1781. The document is missing text.

A Poetical essay delivered at Commencement H. College, July 18th AD 1781, by Mr. Jno Davis (manuscript copy), ca. 1780s

Paper-notebook copy lacking covers with a copy of John Davis's 1781 Commencement poem. The Harvard College Library stamp is on the front page.

Acknowledgment of Atkins, Dexter, Hall 1, 1780 March 22

One-page handwritten letter to "the Reverent the President, Professors, and Tutors of Harvard College," signed with the last names of Dudley Atkins, Samuel Dexter, and Joseph Hall, asking the President and Tutors for their pardon.