Theses, 1642-1818

The format of the Theses broadsides follows the layout of the University of Edinburgh Theses of 1641 (see Samuel Morison, Founding of Harvard, p. 136) and varied little over its existence from 1642 until 1810; there are two additional Theses printed as quartos from 1813 and 1821. The 1642 Theses was published in John Eliot's New Englands First Fruits (London, 1643), but no copies of the original broadside are known to exist. The earliest known extant copy of the Theses, from 1643, resides in the University of Glasgow Library; the Theses for 1687 is the oldest original held by Harvard.

The Theses text is arranged within a decorated border, and begins with a laudatory dedication to principal civic leaders, usually starting with the governor of Massachusetts. Certain Theses have capital letters at the end of the dedication that are generally understood to be acronyms for concluding dedicatory verbs. Henry Edes' 1898 article on the Theses of 1663, in the Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, offers guesses for the phrases, suggesting, for instance, that D.D.D. found on the 1643 Theses stood for "Donant dicant dedicant." Following the dedication, the Latinized names of undergraduates are listed, with the rest of the document then devoted to the propositions. The 1642 Theses includes 54 prompts arranged in two categories, Philological (subdivided into Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic) and Philosophical (subdivided into Ethics, Physics, and Metaphysics).

While a significant number of early Theses are missing, their consistent production over such a long period reveals substantial information about the evolution of American higher education (especially in the sciences), political developments, and aspects of social life, first in the Massachusetts colony and later in the newly formed United States. The expansion both of classifications (e.g. the addition of Politics as a category in 1778) and questions of growing complexity (e.g. the appearance of Mathematical formulas) relate directly to political developments and scientific advancements in British North America. The choice of names included in the introductory dedication also reveals information about the political climate in Massachusetts. During the mid 1770s, instead of a governor the Theses were dedicated to Harvard’s president Samuel Langdon, and on the 1776 broadside the date reads “Anno Salutis 1776 Annoque Republicae Americae primo.” The inclusion of a printer’s attribution, usually at the bottom of the broadside, presents information about typography and the history of printing in the colonies and early republic. Among the printers who produced the Theses were Richard and Samuel Draper, Thomas and John Fleet, Isaiah Thomas, Edward Powars, and Nathaniel Willis.

The Theses offer detailed evidence of the type of curriculum taught to Harvard students, as well as the educational expectations of a Harvard graduate. It also provides information about the students themselves. The Triennial Catalogues and Harvard University Quinquennial Catalogue of Officers and Graduates, 1636-1930 relied on the Theses to supply the names of members of Harvard's graduating classes. The initial practice of arranging student names by rank continued through the 1772 printing, after which, names were listed alphabetically. The methods by which seniority was decided remain unclear, but academic accomplishment and family social status appear to have both played roles.

There are no known English translations of the Theses.

There are no known extant Theses for the following years: 1642 (transcribed in New England's First Fruits), 1645, 1649-1652, 1654-1669, 1671, 1673-1677, 1679-1681, 1683-1686, 1690, 1692, 1694-1707, 1709-1710, 1712-1716, 1718.

There were no graduates (and thus no Theses) in the following years: 1644, 1648, 1672, 1682, 1688.

There was no public commencement (and thus no Theses) in the following years: 1752, 1757, 1764, 1774-1775.