Letter from William Tudor to his family,

Four letters written from Tudor to his family while he was traveling in France in 1800 and 1802. In two letters, he describes in detail his capture by a French privateer aboard the ship Minerva in the spring of 1800. He also discusses the business activities of "Mr. C" (John Codman), his employer. Tudor additionally describes the French countryside and the impact of the French Revolutionary Wars on the cities.

Letters from William Tudor to his father, William Tudor,

Four letters written from France in which Tudor reflects on the Coup of 18 Brumaire and expresses his admiration for Napoleon Bonaparte, writing, "Europe cannot at present boast so great a character, his indefatigueable industry, the prompt decision and austerity of his character are necessary joined to his eminent and various talents for the arduous situation he is placed in." He also details his travel plans and his activities with his employer, John Codman.

Letters from William Tudor to his father, William Tudor,

Three letters written from Paris and Bordeaux. Tudor again writes of his approval of Bonaparte, and offers observations on the weather, crops, and culture of France.

Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1815 March 16

Two octavo-sized leaves containing a brief half-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley to accompany the deliver of a "small parcel of Irish Farthings."

Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1815 April 16

One folio-sized leaf containing a brief half-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley requesting time to visit with Hannah Crowninshield during the summer.

Letter from W. D. Peck to William Bentley, 1815 March 2

Two leaves containing a two-page handwritten letter from Peck to Bentley identifying and describing the fish species Ophidium as the specimen in a drawing by a young woman described by Peck alternately as Bentley's "daughter" and "Miss C." Bentley had no children, and Peck is presumably referring to Hannah Crowninshield, Bentley's pupil.

Letter from W. D. Peck to William Bentley, 1815 May 17

One leaf containing a one-page handwritten letter from Peck to Bentley briefly commenting on the receipt of a fish specimen.

VI. [Announcement for Elisha Sylvester], 1815 April 25

One leaf containing a one-page handwritten announcement for a Boston visit by book distributor Elisha Sylvester of Turner, Maine.

Letter from Samuel Willard, Deerfield, Massachusetts, to Susan Holland [nee Willard], Belchertown, Massachusetts, August 20, 1815

Willard says that everyone is in good health and asks his sister to write to him.

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.

David Barclay's report of his missionary labors : manuscript, 1800

A chronological account of Barclay's missionary tour, chiefly in New England, 4 July-3 Sept. 1799. Entries mention the religious activities of the areas he visited, and in some cases mention the funds available to hire a minister in the community.

Reports of the Committee of commons, 1800

This collection contains two handwritten committee reports that provide a brief financial overview of the Harvard College Steward's accounts for the quarters ending February 27, 1800 and May 29, 1800. The February 27th statement is dated March 4, 1800, and the May 29th statement is dated June 2, 1800.

Inscription for Mr. Remington's grave stone, ca. 1800

This one-page undated and unattributed document contains a handwritten copy of the Latin inscription made for Jonathan Remington's gravestone.

Commonplace book of Moses Appleton, 1791-1815 (inclusive)

Volume containing medicinal recipes, medical notes, poetry, and obituaries written by Dr. Moses Appleton (1773-1849). Many of the recipes were copied from medical texts or other publications. His "cure for the dropsy," taken from the New York Herald, contained stale cider, parsley, horseradish, oxymel squills (sea onion in honey), and juniper berries. For diarrhea, he prescribed a blackberry syrup. Several entries indicate Appleton practiced Thomsonian medicine, an alternative system based on use of botanicals. The medical notes include an account of his treatment of a man with smallpox in 1815, and entries on patients he inoculated with cowpox matter. Another entry dated in 1796 provides instructions from the Massachusetts Humane Society for "treatment to be used with persons apparently dead from drowning," which included blowing tobacco smoke in the victim's lungs and applying warm blankets for several hours. Appleton adds a note questioning whether or not the lungs also should be "often artificially inflated." There is additionally a history of prominent physicians dating from ancient Greece.