An oration upon genius : Commencement address, 1797

Sixteen-page paper notebook containing a handwritten copy of an essay titled "An Oration upon Genius" composed by AM candidate Joseph Perkins for the 1797 Harvard Commencement. The verso of the last page contains the handwritten title: "Oration on Genius first Copy. July 17th Commencement 1797." The essay discusses themes of republicanism and education and begins, "To mark the peculiar operation of liberty on mental exertion and improvement..."

An inventory of all of the estate of Caleb Gannett late of Cambridge in the county of Middlesex, Esquire, deceased, appraised upon oath by us the subscribers, duly appointed to that service by the Hon. James Prescott Esq. Judge of Probate & wills, in said county of Middlesex, viz., 1818 May 21

Eight-page handwritten inventory and appraisal of Caleb Gannett's real estate and personal estate by William Hilliard, James R. Chaplin, and Royal Morse with an attached certification of the Middlesex County Court of Probate signed May 26, 1818.

Address of Middlesex County Harvard Alumni to John T. Kirkland upon his resignation,

This folder contains three copies of the same handwritten document which presumably were circulated in order to collect signatures.

" Lines upon the late proceedings of the College Government" collection, 1787-1917

This collection contains various manifestations of a humorous poem, most often called "Lines upon the late proceedings of the College Government," written by classmates John Quincy Adams and John Murray Forbes in 1787. Both Adams and Forbes were members of the class of 1787, and the poem recounts events surrounding the pranks and ensuing punishment of two members of the class behind them, Robert Wier and James Prescott. Wier and Prescott had been caught drinking wine and making "riotous noise," and they were publicly reprimanded by Harvard President Joseph Willard and several professors and tutors, including Eliphalet Pearson, Eleazar James, Jonathan Burr, Nathan Read, and Timothy Lindall Jennison. The poem mocks these authority figures, but it spares Samuel Williams, whom it suggests was the only professor to find their antics humorous.

New York Bay and Harbor, and vicinity, 1844 (Image 1 of 6) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Map of New-York Bay and Harbor and the environs : sheet no. 3, founded upon a trigonometrical survey under the direction of F.R. Hassler, superintendent of the Survey of the Coast of the United States ; triangulation by James Ferguson and Edmund Blunt, assistants ; the hydrography under the direction of Thomas R. Gedney, lieutenant U.S. Navy ; the topography by C. Renard and T.A. Jenkins assists. It was published by Survey of the Coast of the United States in 1844-1845. Scale 1:30,000. This layer is image 3 of 6 total images of the six sheet source map, representing the southwest portion of the map. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Zone 18N NAD83 projection. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows coastal features such as lighthouses, buoys, beacons, rocks, channels, points, coves, islands, bottom soil types, wharves, and more. Includes also selected land features such as roads, drainage, land cover, forts, selected buildings, towns, and more. Relief shown by hachures. Depths are shown by soundings and shading. Includes text, table of currents and stations, notes, sailing directions, 4 coastal panoramas and 2 views of Sandy Hook Light. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from The Harvard Map Collection as part of the Imaging the Urban Environment project. Maps selected for this project represent major urban areas and cities of the world, at various time periods. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features at a large scale. The selection represents a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes.