Phi Beta Kappa dissertation on the study of history at Harvard, by Daniel White and John Collins Warren, February 21, 1797

This dissertation, apparently delivered at a Phi Beta Kappa assembly on February 21, 1797 by Warren and White, concerns the study of history at Harvard College at the time they were students. In this manuscript version of their dissertation, Warren and White bemoan the insufficient attention paid to the discipline of history by the students and faculty at Harvard.

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.

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.

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.

College Book 10, 1810-1827

College Book 10 consists of multiple paper-bound waste books bound together in one leather hard binding. It begins with an alphabetical index and contains minutes of Corporation meetings held from November 14, 1810 through March 31, 1827. The last page of the volume lists the number of each page on which donations to the College Library are mentioned. Bound with this volume is a printed pamphlet, To the Reverend and Honorable The Corporation of Harvard University, signed by eleven professors and tutors in 1824, along with a manuscript response from the Corporation, entitled Report of a Committee of the President and Fellows of Harvard College on the Memorial of the Resident Instructors Asserting their Chartered Right to be Elected to Vacancies in the Corporation. January 11, 1825.

A collection of the most approved pieces of music from various authors: transcribed while member of Harvard University, from July 1789 to July 1793

John Pierce kept this journal while he was a student at Harvard College. It consists of manuscript musical scores with annotations indicating the occasions at which the music was performed. These occasions included commencements, public exhibitions and Dudleian lectures. A note indicates that one anthem was prepared by Samuel Holyoke at Pierce's request, to be performed at Pierce's class commencement exercises, held on July 13, 1793. Several annotations were made in May 1794, the year following Pierce's graduation. There is a table of contents on the last page.