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SERIES Identifier: UAI 5.110

Corporation papers, 1st series, supplements to the Harvard College Papers, Volume 2, 1764-1840

Scope and Contents

The second volume of the supplements to the Harvard College Papers contains duplicate and original bills, accounts, deeds, wills, correspondence, and memorials, dated 1764-1785. Included are accounts and invoices of books and apparatus ordered for the College Library, and an account of expenses for moving the Library to Concord while Harvard buildings were occupied by the Continental Army; deeds from Loyalist enslaver and planter John Vassall and others; receipts for payment to Harvard Corporation issued by Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy Samuel Williams (1743-1817) on behalf of the College treasurer; and bills from the College Steward and Buttery.

There are later letters, dated 1839-1840, to Harvard President Josiah Quincy (1772-1864; Harvard AB 1790) from Turell Tufts (1770-1842) and others in response to his requests for information about Harvard donor Isaac Royall, Jr., whose family wealth was generated from the transatlantic slave trade and their Antigua sugar plantation; this correspondence may have been research for his book History of Harvard University, published in 1840. Extracts of Royall's will are included.

Item numbers were assigned by William Garrott Brown during the creation of his calendar. Some documents originally bound into the volume were removed at an unknown date, resulting in gaps in item numbering. All separated material is listed in the inventory.

Dates

  • Creation: 1636-1846

Researcher Access

Corporation papers, 1st series, supplements to the Harvard College Papers, Volumes 1 and 2, is closed for research use due to the collection's fragile condition.

Positive microfilm of the supplements to the Harvard College Papers, 1st series (UAI I.5.131.5) is available for research use.

Extent

.5 cubic feet (2 legal document boxes, 1 flat box)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Volume 2 was bound in the mid-nineteenth century and was received by the Harvard University Archives on April 4, 1893.

Creator

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.

Contact:
Pusey Library
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