Collection of Harvard College bills sent to George Wingate, 1792-1796

This collection of bills, sent to George Wingate while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College from 1792 to 1796, includes quarter bills, butler's bills, and bills and receipts of payment from two women, Mary Hilliard and Mary Kidder, who provided Wingate room and board ("board and chamber"). The butlers bills were created by the two men who held that position during Wingate's time as a student, John Pipon and Timothy Alden. Caleb Gannett was the steward the entire time, and thus creator of all the quarter bills. Some of the bills indicate charges for sizings and fines for punishments, and a bill from Mary Hilliard indicates that Wingate purchased candles, blank books and sheets of paper from her.

Collection of Harvard College admission form letter and bills sent to Charles Walker and his son Charles Walker, Jr., 1785-1816

This collection consists primarily of quarter bills and butler's bills from Charles Walker and Charles Walker, Jr.'s years as students at Harvard College, from 1785 to 1789 and from 1815-1816. It includes the following materials from Charles Walker: a form of admission (a printed form letter with manuscript annotations and signatures) from August 1785, quarter bills and butler's bills from 1785 to 1789, and occasional receipts of payment. The documents from Charles Walker, Jr. are less numerous, consisting solely of quarter bills from 1815 and 1816. The bills for father and son include annotations explaining the basis of additional or unusual charges, including fines for absence from lectures and prayers. The form used for the son's quarter bills, issued in 1815 and 1816, separate the amounts owed into the following categories: Steward and Commons, Sizings, Study and Cellar Rent, Instruction, Librarian, Natural History, Episcopal Church, Books, Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, Repairs, Sweepers, Assessments for delinquency in payment of Quarter Bills, Wood, and Fines. All of the bills are printed forms which were then filled out by hand, by either the steward or the butler, and issued to the students. Caleb Gannett was the College steward during both father and son's era. Joshua Paine, William Harris, and Thomas Adams served, successively, as butler during the father's era. Some of the butler's bills are signed by Roger Vose, a student who appears to have been employed by the butler in 1786 and 1787.

List of members of the Harvard College Class of 1797, created 1794 July 2

This document lists all the members of the Harvard College Class of 1797, including those who did not graduate. The list is roughly alphabetical, and each student's home town is listed alongside his name. There are also brief notes about one member of the class's nine-month suspension and several others' "taking up connections." The creator of this list is unknown.

The report of the secretary of the Class of 1863 of Harvard College.

Description based on: June 1873 to June 1883.

Report of the secretary of the Class of 1865 of Harvard College.

Description based on: 3rd (June 1868 to June 1871).

Salutatory address of Abiel Abbot, 1792

Six-unlined pages containing a handwritten copy of the salutatory address composed by Abiel Abbot in Latin for the 1792 Harvard College Commencement. The text includes edits and struck-through words. The first page includes the title "Autore Abiele Abbot" and has a penciled note: "This must be gr. grandfather's Latin oration when he graduated from Harvard, with honors, in 1792."

Collection of Harvard College quarter bill and butler's bills sent to Charles Davis, 1793-1796

This collection consists of one quarter bill and three butler's bills, all sent to Charles Davis while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College. The quarter bill is from August 1795 and the butler's bills are from February and November 1793 and July 1796. John Pipon and Timothy Alden were the butlers at this time, and Caleb Gannett was the steward (responsible for the quarter bill).

Commonplace book of Hector Orr, 1789-1804

Hector Orr began recording entries in this commonplace book during his first year as a student at Harvard and continued writing in the volume sporadically until 1804. The entries written while he was a student, from 1789 to 1792, include themes written on the following topics: Time, Discontent, Patriotism, Virtue, Conscience, Patience, Avarice, Compassion, Mortality, Self-knowledge, Benevolence, Morning, Anger, Profanity, Bribery, Autumn and Winter, Hermitage, Conscience and Anticipation. He also wrote detailed entries about the forensic disputations in which he and his classmates participated, explaining both the affirmative and negative positions. One of these disputations involved discussion of the Stamp Act, which was then quite recent history. Orr's entries about the disputations list the names of students involved and specify their position in the argument.

Report of the Class of 1860 /

Description based on: 1860/66.

Valedictory poem delivered in the Chapel of Harvard University on the 21 June 1796: in the presence of the President Proffers & Tutors & the four classes of understudents at the request of the class who completed their college studies on that day

Handwritten draft of the Charles P. Sumner’s valedictory poem to the Harvard class of 1796, in a 19th century hardcover binding beginning “The youth by adverse fortune forced to roam…”. The poem mentions John Russell, a member of the Class of 1796 who died in November 1795. The copy includes edits and struck-out words.

[Letter from Jason Haven to the Corporation of Harvard College], 1780 July 15

Handwritten letter from Jason Haven requesting the Corporation to grant Draper a degree.

[Letter from Nathaniel Robbins to the Corporation of Harvard College], 1780 July 15

Handwritten letter from Nathaniel Robbins regarding Philip Draper.

Student notes of Elijah Dunbar, 1792-1793

Three unlined pages with notes written by Harvard undergraduate Elijah Dunbar. The documents consist of two pages of chemistry notes compiled in September 1792 when Dunbar was a junior and an undated, untitled list of theological themes. The chemistry notes include a summary of the discipline and a set of laws regarding the "affinity of composition." The verso of the second page was later annotated: "Borrow- He that discerneth Youth & Beau[ty] Elij. Dunar 2'd 1793. Rec'd David Tappan, Professor of Divinity in the University--Elijah Dunbar, jun." followed by a list of students identified as "Alchemists" in the "Ridiculous Society": Joseph Perkins, Isaac Braman, William Biglow, and Elijah Dunbar. The second document is an untitled list of 27 theological themes beginning "1. Doctrine of the Trinity," and ending "27. Family worship," and may refer to sermon or lecture topics.

Bill from Phillips Payson to Harvard College, [1780 August]

This undated bill was rendered to the College by Phillips Payson (died 1809; Harvard AB 1778) for work done in the College Library equaling £720. The document was originally housed in a folder with the note, "This was from the old trunk."

Letter and account from Phillips Payson to Harvard College, 1780 September 11

These two documents consist of an account of services done by Phillips Payson (1809; Harvard AB 1778) for the College Library and a brief letter of enclosure.