William Blair Townsend letter and receipt books, 1743-1805, bulk 1744-1777

The collection consists of two volumes, which date from 1743 to 1805, spanning his whole career as a merchant. Volume one is a letter book containing Townsend's business correspondence from November 23, 1743 to December 12, 1774. Most of the letters were written to American (many in North Carolina) and British (predominately in London) merchants. His earliest letters document his efforts to establish himself as a trader. Over time his letters turn to illustrate the common problems faced by many merchants: damaged goods, overpriced goods, embargos, and high freight costs. Particularly enlightening are his comments on the challenges of doing business throughout the French and Indian War and the years leading up to the American Revolution. He most frequently corresponded with London merchants Champion & Hayley, Lane & Booth, Lane Son & Fraser, Harrison & Ansley, and Leeds merchant Samuel Elam. In addition he frequently corresponded with Eliakim Palmer, colonial agent and merchant in London, as well as Dr. Walley Chauncy of North Carolina. He dealt in a wide variety of goods including molasses, rum, tar, medicines, pitch, saddles, tallow, hides, skins, pickled beef and pork, and wine. The letters also document Townsend's involvement in the slave trade through his occasional purchases of slaves.

Notification from William Cutler to the selectmen of Cambridge, Massachusetts, that Dr. Philip Brukowitz and wife were inhabiting his father's house in Cambridge, 1758 April 25

Single page notification addressed to the selectmen of Cambridge, Massachusetts, dated 25 April 1758, in which William Cutler writes that he took into his father’s Cambridge house as tenants Dr. George Philip Brukowitz and his wife, from Woburn, Massachusetts. After the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1721, the town of Cambridge enacted a requirement in 1723 that no resident would receive or admit any non-resident family into their homes for the space of a month without informing the town selectmen. The penalty for failing to do so was twenty shillings.

Plan of Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts, 1859 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Part of a plan presented to the Commissioners for the improvement of the Back Bay, [by] T. & J. Doane's Office, published in 1859. Scale [1:2,400]. It shows a plan for a 36 acre lake and surrounding area, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts. This is an updated version of the 1854 ed. "Amended for the use of the City: Boston, Janr. 5th, 1859." The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Massachusetts State Plane Coordinate System, Mainland Zone (in Feet) (Fipszone 2001). All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as roads (with street and alley dimensions), drainage, property lots with dimensions, land ownership boundaries with names of landowners, parks, and more. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps of Massachusetts from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates (1755-1922), scales, and purposes. The digitized selection includes maps of: the state, Massachusetts counties, town surveys, coastal features, real property, parks, cemeteries, railroads, roads, public works projects, etc.

Argument of Charles F. Choate, esq., in behalf of the Northern (N.H.) railroad, against the consolidation of the Boston & Lowell and Fitchburg railroads, before the railway committee of the Massachusetts legislature, February 26, 1873.

Mode of access: Internet.

Proceedings of the Massachusetts national Democratic convention : and of the mass meeting for the ratification of the nominations of Breckinridge & lane, held at the Tremont Temple, Boston, Sept. 12, 1860.

Mode of access: Internet.

Reply to the "Remarks" of thirty-one Boston schoolmasters on the Seventh annual report of the secretary of the Massachusetts Board of education.

Mode of access: Internet.

Proceedings of the Temperance Convention, held in Boston on the twenty-third September, 1835 : in pursuance of an invitation of the Massachusetts Temperance Society to the friends of temperance : with an address to the friends of temperance.

Mode of access: Internet.

A letter to the mechanics of Boston, respecting the formation of a city temperance society, from a committee of the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance.

Mode of access: Internet.

Letter to S.D. Woodruff from Louis Cabot of Brookline, Massachusetts

Letter to S.D. Woodruff from Louis Cabot of Brookline, Massachusetts asking if shares are transferable by lease, Jan. 3, 1884.

A summary of remarks made by William C. Lane, Librarian of Harvard University, published in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, December 1909

Lane addressed the Massachusetts Historical Society about the recent discovery of foundations walls, likely from Goffe College, made during the Boston Elevated Railway's excavations in Harvard Square for the subway on Massachusetts Avenue.

Bill of lading for shipment of four boxes of books, Oct. 20, 1764

This bill of lading is from Jasper Mauduit's shipment of books (his own gift and those bequeathed by Dr. Avery) to Andrew Oliver. The books were shipped from London to Boston via a ship called Hale Galley, under the direction of Captain Harris Hatch.

Vote of Convention of Ministers in Boston,

Signed by Kirkland as "Scribe".

Loan exhibition of one hundred colonial portraits : Museum of fine arts, Boston, 19 June-21 September, 1930.

Errata slip laid in.

First annual report of the Massachusetts State Department of Agriculture. Report of commissioner and other officers. 1918.

Continued by the Annual report of the Department of Agriculture.

Rules and regulations for the government of the Massachusetts State-Prison /

Shaw & Shoemaker