Letters from John Murray Forbes to William Tudor,

Seven letters in which Forbes updates Tudor on relations between the provinces and provides introductions to various Argentinian diplomats sent to Brazil. He also includes a copy of a letter in Spanish sent to him from the Argentinian minister of war and foreign relations regarding peace negotiations with Brazil along with letters to the United States legation and Tudor regarding American involvement in light of the Monroe Doctrine.

Letters from John Murray Forbes to William Tudor,

Five letters relaying news of the Decembrist revolution and Buenos Aires Governor Manuel Dorrego’s execution, as well as developments in other Argentinean provinces. Forbes also writes about a personal conflict with Commodore James Creighton, and requests Tudor’s assistance in intervening on behalf of American citizens.

Letters from John Murray Forbes to William Tudor,

Five letters regarding the arrival of English Admiral Robert Waller Otway, the movements of Juan Lavalle and his troops, and the "feverish state" of the population of Buenos Aires in light of the recent violence associated with the Decembrist revolution.

Letters from John Murray Forbes to William Tudor,

Six letters regarding ongoing civil wars in the Argentinean provinces, peace negotiations, and Forbes’ implementation of the Monroe Doctrine, as well as diplomatic discussions with the provisional government in Buenos Aires, which sought American intervention. Forbes also includes a copy of a letter he wrote to the provisional government regarding privateering.

Letters from John Murray Forbes to William Tudor,

Five letters regarding the peace negotiations between Argentinean factions. He also writes of news of the intentions of Spain to establish a "paternal government" in Mexico.

Letters from John Murray Forbes to William Tudor,

Four letters in which Forbes discusses the peace achieved in Buenos Aires, and the question of whether to reinstall the junta that was overthrown in the Decembrist revolution, as well as a meeting with the new governor, Juan Manuel Rosas. He also describes the response in Buenos Aires to the peace reached between Colombia and Peru, and the funeral of executed Buenos Aires Governor Manuel Dorrego.

Letters from John Ponsonby to William Tudor,

Three letters regarding Buenos Aires news and politics, including his hope that General Juan Lavalle would end up "on a Gibbet." Also includes Ponsonby’s opinion of Manuel Dorrego and his execution.

Letters from John Taylor,

Two letters regarding placement of a Chinese cook with Tudor, and a future visit.

Letters from John Dorr to William Tudor,

Six letters in which Dorr, a Boston agent, seeks Tudor’s help in reversing the condemnation of the ship Esther, and thanks him for his assistance with several cases of wine. One duplicate letter.

Letter from John Johnson to William Tudor,

One letter inquiring about the death of an American citizen in South America.

Letter from John White Webster to William Tudor,

Two letters thanking Tudor for sending Peruvian mineral specimens to Harvard and requesting he send additional mineral and fossils, as well as reports on other "natural phenomena" for publication.

III. Biographical notes on John Stark, [1810 March]

One leaf containing a page of handwritten biographical notes on Revolutionary War hero General John Stark in Bentley's hand. The note is written on the verso of a short letter from J. Pitcairn regarding a deliver for the "Rev. D. Bently" dated March 2, 1810. The notes were likely copied from the biographical sketch published in the Essex Register May 1, 1810.

Letters from John Hubbard Church to William Jenks, 1795-1798

John Hubbard Church wrote these twelve letters to his friend and classmate William Jenks between 1795 and 1798. Church wrote the letters from Boston, Rutland, Cambridge, and Chatham in Massachusetts and from Somers, Connecticut; they were sent to Jenks in Cambridge and Boston, where for a time he worked as an usher in Mr. Vinall's school and Mr. Webb's school. Church's letters touch on various subjects, ranging from his increased interest in theology and his theological studies under Charles Backus to his seasickness during a sailing voyage to Cape Cod. Church also informs Jenks of what he is reading, including works by John Locke, P. Brydone, James Beattie, John Gillies, Plutarch, and Alexander Pope. He describes his work teaching that children of the Sears family in Chatham, Massachusetts, where he appears to have spent a significant amount of time between 1795 and 1797. Church's letters are at times very personal, and he often expresses great affection for Jenks and their friendship.

Letters from Benjamin Welles to John Henry Tudor, 1799-1801

Benjamin Welles wrote these six letters to his friend and classmate, John Henry Tudor, between 1799 and 1801. Four of the letters are dated, and the dates of the other two can be deduced from their contents. Welles wrote Tudor four times in September 1799, at the onset of their senior year at Harvard, in an attempt to clear up hurt feelings and false rumors that he believed had caused a chill in their friendship. The cause of the rift is never fully explained, though Welles alludes to "a viper" and "villainous hypocrite" who apparently spread rumors and fueled discord between the two friends. In one letter, Welles asserts that "College is a rascal's Elysium - or the feeling man's hell." In another he writes: "College, Tudor, is a furnace to the phlegmatic, & a Greenland to thee feeling man; it has an atmosphere which breathes contagion to the soul [...] Villains fatten here. College is the embryo of hell." Whatever their discord, the wounds were apparently eventually healed; in a letter written June 26, 1800, Welles writes to ask Tudor about his impending speech at Commencement exercises. In an October 29, 1801 letter, Welles writes to Tudor in Philadelphia (where he appears to have traveled in attempts to recover his failing health) and expresses strong wishes for his friend's recovery and return to Boston. This letter also contains news of their classmate Washington Allston's meeting with painters Henry Fuseli and Benjamin West.

John Warren's copy of votes from a meeting of the Boston Medical Society, 1784 May 3

This document lists the eleven votes cast at a meeting of the Boston Medical Society on May 3, 1784. It was authorized as a "true coppy" by Thomas Kast, the Secretary of the Society. The following members of the Society were present at the meeting, all of them doctors: James Pecker, James Lloyd, Joseph Gardner, Samuel Danforth, Isaac Rand, Jr., Charles Jarvis, Thomas Kast, Benjamin Curtis, Thomas Welsh, Nathaniel Walker Appleton, and doctors whose last names were Adams, Townsend, Eustis, Homans, and Whitwell. The document indicates that a meeting had been held the previous evening, as well (May 2, 1784), at which the topics on which votes were taken had been discussed. The votes, eleven in total, were all related to the doctors' concerns about John Warren and his involvement with the emerging medical school (now Harvard Medical School), that school's relation to almshouses, the medical care of the poor, and other related matters. The tone and content of these votes reveals anger on the part of the members of the Boston Medical Society towards Warren. This anger appears to have stemmed from the perceived threat of Warren to their own practices, exacerbated by a vote of the Harvard Corporation on April 19, 1784. This vote authorized Warren to apply to the Overseers of the Poor for the town of Boston, requesting that students in the newly-established Harvard medical program, where Warren was Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, be allowed to visit the hospital of the almshouse with their professors for the purpose of clinical instruction. Although Warren believed that the students would learn far more from these visits, in regards to surgical experience, than they could possibly learn in Cambridge, the proposal provoked great distrust from the members of the Boston Medical Society, who accused Warren of an "attempt to direct the public medical business from its usual channels" for his own financial and professional gain.