Payment order for Thomas Adams, 1785 June 30

Handwritten order to John Sale to pay scholarship funds to student Thomas Adams (Harvard AB 1788), signed by signed by Charles Chauncey, John Clarke, Jonathan Williams, and James Thwing.

Payment order for Ephraim Eliot on behalf of Thomas Adams, 1786 June 28

Handwritten order to John Sale to pay the bearer the specified amount signed by Charles Chauncey, John Clarke, Jonathan Williams, and James Thwing. The verso is signed by Ephraim Eliot on behalf of student Thomas Adams (Harvard AB 1788).

Henry Adams, AM, 1778

Degree received in 1778; diploma granted in 1786.

Bills Dr. to Tho. Adams late Coll. Butler, 1791

The paper-covered book contains a two column debit and credit entry section for students created by Thomas Adams and updated by Samuel Shapleigh for the Classes of 1792 through 1794. The final page includes the note, "The above is the Balance due to me as Butler of College- Cambridge Novr 15, 1791--Tho Adams." The book includes annotations made at a later date noting students not found in other College records. The cover of the book features an engraving of a young woman in profile.

A statement of the monies which have been paid, & of the debts which are still due to Thomas Adams formerly College Butler. 15 April 1794

Statement with list of creditors paid with cash from the student accounts.

A statement of the bills due to Thomas Adams, late Butler of Harvard College and the amount of their appropriations to discharge his debts, 1794

Statement with list of creditors owed funds. Verso is dated 1797, and includes list of cash paid out to creditors.

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.

Power of Attorney, Samuel Shapleigh for Thomas Adams, Jan. 12, 1791

Signed by Thomas Adams and witnessed by Abraham Biglow and Daniel Clarke Sanders.

Letter from John Quincy Adams to his brother, Thomas Boylston Adams, 1786 July 2

This letter was written by John Quincy Adams on July 2, 1786 to his younger brother, Thomas Boylston Adams, who was then staying with their uncle, the Reverend John Shaw, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. In the letter, John gives Thomas advice on life as a student at Harvard, instructing him to choose his friends carefully, to favor those who are virtuous and studious over those who are idle and prone to vice, to maintain an "unblemished moral reputation," and to spend as much as six hours each day studying in order to excel as a scholar.