Notebook, 1686-1741 Digital

The hardcover-bound notebook includes entries created by Aaron Bordman and his nephew Andrew Bordman II. Both men used the notebook for personal and business entries, including accounting records kept in their capacities as Harvard Steward. There is no clear distinction of authorship beyond the knowledge of Aaron's death on January 15, 1702/3. The second half of the volume is written tête-bêche (from the back cover forward), and includes entries by both Bordmans.

The earliest entries, created in the 1680s, record money paid and received for purchases. Aaron Bordman's entries include quarterly bill charges for some members of the Harvard Classes of 1689 and 1690.

The notebook documents purchases, likely made by Andrew Bordman II in 1699-1701, for food, kitchen utensils, and notably, arms, ammunition, and saddle equipment. The nature of the purchases suggest they were made for the Bordmans' Cambridge store and saddling business, and not for the College. Andrew Bordman II's entries include account records for boarders who lived with the family in the 1710s, as well as business account records and purchases. There are sporadic entries of Bordman births, sicknesses, and deaths, as well as a list of four children born to the Bordman's enslaved person Rose: Jane, Flora, Jeffrey, and Cesar, between 1718 and 1733. The journal mentions the deaths of Andrew Bordman and Ruth Bordman (Andrew Bordman II's grandchildren) to a "throat distemper" in 1740. There is also a 1737 entry personal entry beginning "I was in extremity of pain all night till about 6 in ye morning..." as well as a recipe for curing a cough.

The volume provides entries relating to Harvard College, mainly in the form of expenses, including purchases for the 1703 Commencement dinner and the installation of President John Leverett on January 14, 1707.