College Book 8, 1778-1803 Digital
Scope and Contents
This volume contains a fair copy of minutes from Corporation meetings held from May 5, 1778 through October 14, 1803. It begins with an alphabetical index and contains entries related to a wide range of topics, including changes in the College laws; lists of Harvard graduates; historical information about the College and its governance; memorials to the Massachusetts General Court about currency concerns, the West Boston Bridge, and other matters; the establishment of medical professorships and selection of professors to fill them; land and property belonging to Harvard; the settlement of accounts with former College Treasurer John Hancock; support of missionaries to several Indian tribes; the establishment of a student dress code; the Charlestown Ferry, and its revenue troubles following the construction of the West Boston Bridge; the purchase of a wooden sloop for transporting students' "fuel" (presumably firewood); the creation and distribution of library catalogs; the commission of a lucernal microscope for the College Apparatus; Oneida Indian Isaac Solegwaston and Harvard's financial support of his studies at the Hamilton Oneida Academy; transcriptions of a letter (October 23, 1789) from the Corporation to President George Washington and of Washington's response; a petition to the General Court for the establishment of a public infirmary to serve the indigent; individuals who were granted permission to instruct Harvard students in the French language outside the established curriculum; and Thomas Welsh's excused absence from his Harvard graduation, granted June 14, 1798, because of his imminent departure for Berlin to serve as Secretary to John Quincy Adams, then Minister Plenipotentiary to Berlin.
Of particular interest are entries describing the King of France's offer "to furnish from his royal Garden, free of all expence, the seeds and plants combined therein, provided this Commonwealth will establish a botanical garden." It would have been the first such garden in America. In a 1784 memorial to the General Court requesting approval of the King's offer, and also that the garden be established in conjunction with Harvard, President Joseph Willard explained that such a garden would have "beneficial consequences, to further improvements in agriculture, the mechanical arts, medicine and commerce, on which the prosperity and happiness the Citizens of American principally depend." This volume also contains votes of thanks to John Coakley Lettsom – founder of the Medical Society of London, friend of Benjamin Franklin, and a noted mineralogist, among other accomplishments – for his gifts to Harvard. These gifts included "two quadrupeds and ten birds [...] so prepared as to resemble the life" (March 10, 1795) and additional birds and quadrupeds "preserved in the best and neatest manner" (June 1, 1796). Lettsom also donated minerals and other materials useful for scientific studies at Harvard.
Multiple entries pertain to Samuel Williams, Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy from 1780 to 1788. These include a memorial to the General Court about finding a suitable estate for Williams and his family to live on; a transcription of Williams' petition for leave to go to Penobscot to observe a solar eclipse in 1780; Williams' detailed plan for a course of astronomical lectures; permission for Williams to be absent from the College while helping determine the state line between New York and Massachusetts, and –ultimately – his resignation in the face of accusations of financial misconduct. There are also entries about Williams' successor, Samuel Webber, including one (August 24, 1797) noting his leave of absence to help Commissioners settle the northeast boundary of the United States.
Also of note are myriad votes of thanks for donations of art works, particularly portraits and prints, to the College. Many works by John Singleton Copley, John Trumbull, and Edward Savage entered Harvard's collections in the late eighteenth century, sometimes as gifts from the artists themselves. Also common as gifts were Indian artifacts such as tomahawks and moccasins, animal and bird specimens (including "a pair of large Moose horns" and a "wolf skin"), meteorological and scientific instruments, and books. On April 27, 1798, it was voted that Joseph Barrell should be thanked for his "polite and generous attention to the University, in presenting a great number of fine trees to be set around the College, by which those buildings and the environs will be greatly ornamented."
The final pages of College Book 8 contain three entries of significant interest. One is an inventory of the College plate, taken in 1781. Another is a detailed account of harm done to College property during the American Revolutionary War, which lists damages to buildings (Massachusetts Hall, Hollis Hall, and Harvard Hall), as well as food, drink, fuel, and other supplies belonging to the College which the American Army consumed during the war. These supplies included two quintals (over two hundred pounds) of salt fish, a barrel of pickles, and twenty barrels of cider. The last entry in the volume is a list of books donated to Harvard by the Massachusetts General Court following the Revolutionary War. These books, listed by title with indications of the number of copies of each book received, were from libraries sequestered during the war.
Dates
- Creation: 1778-1803
Researcher Access
The College Books are open for research.
Extent
3.43 cubic feet (8 volumes, 3 folders, 1 legal document box)Former call number
Formerly classified as UAI 5.15 College Book 8
Creator
- From the Collection: Harvard University. Corporation (Organization)
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
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