[Admittatur of Joseph Willard (Harvard AB 1765)], 1762

Notebook with a handwritten copy of the 1734 College laws and the additional laws approved by the Corporation on March 29, 1757 in English prepared by Harvard undergraduate Joseph Willard and signed by President Edward Holyoke, Tutors Belcher Hancock and Thomas Marsh, and William Kneeland and Ebenezer Thayer on May 6, 1762.

[Admittatur of Joseph Estabrook], 1818 February 16

Published copy of the 1816 College Laws with the admittatur of undergraduate Joseph Estabrook signed by President John Kirkland on February 16 , 1818.

[Admittatur of Frederick Vose], 1818 September 25

Published copy of the 1816 College Laws with the admittatur of undergraduate Frederick Vose signed by President John Kirkland on September 25, 1818.

Recentes approbati, 1762

List of the matriculating members of the Harvard Class of 1766.

1794, Triennial catalogues annotated by William Winthrop, 1794-1812.

Leather and marbled hardcover binding. Substantially annotated. The volume consists of pages from the published catalogues pasted into a blank volume. The bulk of the volume is comprised of the printed list of graduate names found in the Triennial Catalogue accompanied by handwritten biographical information, usually a sentence in length. It begins with a handwritten section titled "Settled Ministers (in the first Parish in Cambridge)." The entries generally contain a residence, date of death (abbreviated ob), age of death (abbreviated ae), and professional information. While the 1794 Catalogue comprises the majority of the volume, names were added from Triennial Catalogues through the 1812 edition. An example of an entry, for John Hancock (Harvard AB 1754), reads “Rep. for Boston, Maj. Gen. Militia. Ob. Octo. 8. 1793 AE 57 Son of Rev. John of Brantree [sic]." A March 27, 1798 letter to Judge Richard Cranch (1726-1818) from Jeremy Belknap (1744-1798, Harvard AB 1762) pasted into the back of the volume. Written only two months before his death, Belknap describes his plan to "go thro’ the whole Catalogue of the graduates of Harvard College, & relate all that’s proper to be related." Four leaves of biographical notes for the classes of 1642-1686 towards the beginning of the volume are in a different hand with the note "Rev Dr. Holmes's handwriting."

1818, Catalogus senatus academici, eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt in Universitate Harvardiana, Cantabrigiae, in republica Massachusettensi.

Hand-sewn paper binding. Catalogue interleaved with unlined pages holding obituary information collected for graduates who died in 1818 through 1821, beginning with the Class of 1744. The catalogue pages are annotated with asterisks next to the names of alumni who died after the Catalogue's publication.

1818, Catalogus senatus academici, eorum qui munera et officia gesserunt, quique alicujus gradus laurea donati sunt in Universitate Harvardiana, Cantabrigiae, in republica Massachusettensi.

Hardcover binding. Includes loose handwritten notes with biographical information. Bound with Catalogus eorum qui adhuc in Universitate Harvardiana ab anno MDCXLII ... gradus laurea donati sunt ..., 1813, a published alphabetical index of Harvard graduates; an additional handwritten, alphabetical index follows with the names of members of the Classes of 1814-1818. A list of "Mem. of those persons who have deceased since the last edition was printed in 1818" includes death dates through 1820.

Letter from Thomas Hollis to the Curators of Harvard College, 1762 July 21

Thomas Hollis V (1720-1774), widely known as Thomas Hollis of Lincoln’s Inn, was a very generous donor to Harvard College, particularly its library. This letter, which appears to have accompanied a package, demonstrates that he also donated prints to the College. Hollis wrote: "N.B. the Ludlow, Sydney, Marvell, & Cleopatra are struck on paper made from white & colored silk rags, the produce of premiums of the Society, the noble Society for promoting arts & commerce."

Resolution of the committee concerning the way through Rogers's farm, 1762 February 27

One octavo-sized leaf containing a one-page handwritten draft of a resolution by a Harvard Corporation Committee appointed to "lay out an High Way thro' Rogers's Farm & determine about the Cost of the Sd way & the making the fences to enclose it." The resolution permits the town of Waltham to lay a highway on the farm's property as long as it is enclosed by a stone wall.

Letters and legal opinion, 1798-1823

Legal opinion on an equity case (1798). Four letters to an unnamed correspondent (1801) regarding a shipment of papers; Joseph Hopkinson, member of Congress (1817) regarding a judiciary bill; a note (1818) to the cashier of the Bank of Columbia; and to Charles T. Mercer (1823) regarding property in Loudoun County, Virginia. Folder also contains newspaper clippings (ca. 1830-1842) regarding Washington's life and career, including one taken from the Journal of Law.

Book of records for the trial of actions begun May 3, 1762 [-1774]

Record book of justice of the peace Eldad Taylor, covering cases of debt, libel, rape, profanity, assault, breach of contract and theft. Each entry gives a full statement of the case and its settlement, including decisions of referees, costs, damages, appeals, etc.

Letter from William Prescott to Oliver Prescott, 1782 October 19

Two-page handwritten letter from Harvard undergraduate William Prescott to his classmate, Oliver Prescott, that chiefly describes, in florid language, the discipline received by John Rowe (Harvard AB 1783) and others from College officers for disorderly behavior.