"Auri sacra fames!" (manuscript essay), 1798 June 8

Three-page handwritten essay in English by Buckminster on wealth, greed, and economy. The essay is titled with a quote from Virgil that can be translated, "The accursed greed for gold." The essay begins, "The passion for wealth is, like every other passion, often carried to an extreme." The document has edits and struck-through words.

"Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes Emollit mores, nec sinit esse seros" (manuscript essay), 1798 December 6

Three-page handwritten essay in English by Buckminster on the role of the arts in humanity's progress. The essay is titled with a quote from Ovid that can be translated, "A faithful study of the liberal arts refines the manners and corrects their harshness." The essay begins, "To a philosophic mind it is highly interesting to mark the progress of refinement."

"A competence is vital to content; Much wealth is corpulence, if not disease" (manuscript essay), 1799 March 30

Three-page handwritten essay in English by Buckminster with a story about a wealthy young Englishman named Francis who discovers that money is not the source of happiness. The essay is titled with a quote from Edward Young's poem, "The Complaint." Buckminster's essay begins, "Francis was the son of a rich English nobleman."

"Conscience is the best casuist" (manuscript essay), 1799 September 10

Three-page handwritten essay in English by Buckminster on the subject of conscience told through a story about a young man named Henry who saves a starving woman. The essay begins, "The disquisitions of the metaphysical world upon the origin and nature of conscience are quite unnecessary to a complete comprehension of the significancy of our motto." The essay is titled with a quote from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile, Or on Education.

"Procrastination is the thief of time" (manuscript essay), 1799 November 26

Four-page handwritten essay in English by Buckminster on the consequences of procrastination. The essay begins, "Moralists of every age & nation, from wise, proverbial Solomon to 'poor Richard' of our own times, have united in recommending industry, as one of the most necessary virtues." The essay is titled with a quote from Edward Young's poem, "The Complaint," and ends with two lines from Horace beginning, "Est modus in rebus ; sunt certi denique fines..."

Some Acct. of Sev'l things relating to the College contain'd in ye Charter Laws &c with references to the originals (manuscript partial copy), [1721 October]

Two octavo-sized leaves with four half-page columns containing a handwritten copy, made by President Leverett, of an October 17, 1721 a paper composed by Nicholas Sever and William Welsteed to Judge Samuel Sewall.

Petition of Sever and Welsteed to the General Court (manuscript copy), [1723 June-August]

Two folio-sized leaves containing a two-page handwritten copy of the June 21, 1723 petition of Sever and Welsteed requesting the question of non-resident Fellows in the Corporation be readdressed by the General Court, and a one-page handwritten copy of the answer to the petition passed by the General Court on August 7, 1723. The text of the petition begins "Sheweth that we have formerly represented to the Overseers of the College the Difficulty we were under in the business of it by reason of our not being vested with the power of its Charter..." The petition is incorrectly dated as "June 24th 1722" instead of 1723.

Harvard College Charter of 1650 (eighteenth-century manuscript copy), undated

Two folio-sized leaves containing a four-page copy of the Harvard College Charter of 1650.