Corporation votes about Hebrew, 1725-1728

One-and-a-half page handwritten copy of Corporation meeting minutes for April 14, 1725, May 6, 1728, June 17, 1728, and June 24, 1728, in President Benjamin Wadsworth's hand, related to the production of the Hebrew Grammar.

Bond of Samuel Leighton and Samuel Shapleigh to the Harvard Corporation, Aug. 23, 1785

Shapleigh and Leighton's signatures have been cut out from the bottom of this document. It was "signed, sealed and delivered" in the presence of Benjamin Stevens and Ebenezer Marriner.

Bond of Samuel Shapleigh and Thomas Adams to the Harvard Corporation, Aug. 15, 1789

Shapleigh and Adams' signatures have been cut out from the bottom of this document. It was "signed, sealed and delivered" in the presence of Thomas Gray and Darius Shaw.

Bond of Samuel Shapleigh and unknown co-signatory to the Harvard Corporation, Aug. 15, 1789

Shapleigh and the unknown co-signatory's signatures have been cut out from the bottom of this document. It was "signed, sealed and delivered" in the presence of Owen Warland and William Wahan.

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.

Harvard College Lottery Book, 1794-1797

The long hardcover account book contains handwritten records of the Harvard College Lottery in the hand of College Treasurer Ebenezer Storer. The volume begins with a transcription of the Massachusetts General Court June 13, 1794 legislation sanctioning the lottery, and a note that the managers of the lottery gave security bonds to the Corporation. The bulk of the volume records the activities of the four classes of the lottery including lists of the individual tickets returned by the managers Benjamin Austin Jr., George R. Minot, Henry Warren, and John Kneeland, and the accounts of prizes drawn and tickets returned. The volume has a table of contents and there is a note pasted onto the third page calculating the sum raised if all tickets had been sold.

[ Property act], 1787

Copy of act pertaining to taking of property for failure to pay taxes. Signed: Alexander Martin and John Sitgreaves.

An act for granting to His Majesty the sum of fifty-five thousand pounds, and for striking the same in bills of credit, in the manner herein after directed..., 1764

Contains an act for collection of taxes to pay the debt by establishing a set fee of fifteen shillings per head and household.

An Act of Assembly of Barbadoes to regulate sales at outcry and the proceedings of persons executing the office of Provost Marshall General ofthe said island and their under officers, 1763

An Act of Assembly of Barbadoes to regulate sales at outcry and the proceedings of persons executing the office of Provost Marshall General of the said island and their under officers (leaf 1) ; A state of some matters relative to the office of Provost Marshall, and to the passing of this bill (leaf 9) ; Observations drawn up by Jonathan Blenman Esq. his Majestys Atty. Gen. in Barbadoes ... on the Act as it had been first brought in 1761 (leaf 13) ; and two leaves laid in ; Power of attorney, granted to Christopher Scandrett, signed by Francis Reynolds and his son Thomas (25 April 1766) ; Petition of Francis Reynolds to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations (1766).

Minutes explaining difference between first act. rendered Judge and charges to that date entered on Estate Book, 1820 February

Two pages with calculations and notes relating to the differences between the Estate Book and the account rendered by the Judge of Probate.

Vote of the Corporation continuing the salary of the President up to the next commencement,

This folder contains two nineteenth-century handwritten copies of the vote.

Vote of the Corporation accepting Kirkland's resignation,

This folder contains a nineteenth-century handwritten copy of the vote.