Ledgers, 1650-1804

The ledgers record student accounts as well as the Steward's own accounts with the College. The Steward used a Credit (CR) and Debit (DR) system that was applied to successive records with few variations. Accounts were created for individuals, usually students, but also occasionally for Fellows, Tutors, faculty, and in most volumes, Harvard itself. Each account is organized into two columns, typically on facing pages. One column lists the individual as "Debitor" and provides a list of charges and money owed to the Steward. The other column lists the individual as "Creditor" and includes the date of payment, a description of the payment type (such as bills of credit, notes, payment in kind, and scholarships), and the amount paid.

In student accounts, names were arranged by class and then seniority. The accounts included the quarterly bills for the student's time at the College. Entries might simply provide the bill's date frame or they might list out student expenses including commons and sizing, tuition, and punishment fines. Most accounts were paid by bills of credit, though they might not be fully paid until years after a student's graduation.

The Steward's accounts with Harvard are often interspersed in the ledgers, or, as in the account books created by Steward Andrew Bordman II, these accounts are the only content. Credits were generally limited to money collected from student accounts. Debits varied from supplies purchased, servant wages, money used to pay scholarships, and specific payments to merchants and lenders. Where Credits were arranged by quarter, debits were entered with the accompanying date of transaction.

A significant number of ledgers were donated to the College in 1860, after being found in a personal library. In the 1830s, these volumes were repurposed by an unknown author as personal notebooks that include essays on various topics including religion, economy, family, philosophy and history. The entries often appear throughout the book, but generally do not obscure the Steward's accounts.