Corporation minutes extracted from the College books, 1643-1827

This series contains handwritten copies in bound volumes of the proceedings of the meetings of the Corporation and the Board of Overseers recorded in College Books 1 and 3 and full transcriptions of College Books 4 and 7-10. Each volume includes a general subject index. Beginning with College Book 4, the proceedings include a list of attendees at each meeting.

The volumes in this series represent an effort by the Corporation in the mid-19th century to preserve a formal record of the votes and actions of the President and Fellows of Harvard College based on Harvard's earliest extant records. The minutes do not record deliberations.

In the 18th and early 19th century, the Corporation held regular meetings to discuss both complex policy issues as well as the day-to-day management of the College. The votes and orders of the Corporation often reflected their fiduciary role through the disbursement of gifts, donations and income, fund allocation, and property management. As a result of their control over the College's money, the minutes regularly record orders to the treasurer, students selected to receive scholarships and college employment, changes in tuition and fees, and the appointments and dismissals of faculty, and staff, along with salary and wage decisions. The Corporation minutes are a resource for locating the names of individuals involved with the College including students, faculty, the Stewards and Butlers, Librarians, as well as community members who did work for the College as servants, merchants, and tradesmen, and those who leased College properties or held bonds with Harvard.

While the meetings were often focused on routine financial decisions and position appointments, the Corporation made policy decisions, disciplined students, set College laws and academic requirements, and addressed larger institutional issues. The minutes serve as a repository for copies of official documents drafted by the Corporation including memorials and petitions to the General Court, the inaugural addresses of Harvard Presidents, College Laws, and correspondence. Similarly, wills naming Harvard as a beneficiary were often copied into the minutes. The Corporation relied on Committees to investigate larger institutional issues, and often Committee reports and the subsequent Corporation responses are recorded in the minutes.

The minutes are also a resource for studying the College's actions during the American Revolutionary War and include votes related to its temporary move to Concord, a transcription of the honorary degree given to General Washington in 1776, a memorial to the General Court about repairs needed at the College after its occupation by the Continental Army, and Corporation votes and correspondence documenting the College's strained relationship with Treasurer John Hancock. They also contain many entries on the Charlestown Ferry, one of the College's primary sources of income, and the challenges it faced in maintaining revenue when two bridges were constructed across the Charles River. In addition, information about commodity prices can be gleaned from entries related to the Steward and Butler, and many entries relate to Harvard's support of missionaries among Indian tribes. Numerous important historical and political events, and their effects on the Harvard community, are reflected in the Corporation minutes.