Overview
Jeremy Belknap (1744-1798, Harvard AB 1762, AM 1765) was a minister and historian. The collection holds a 1791 copy of the Harvard Triennial Catalogue annotated by Belknap. Belknap's work was a resource for the Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1642-1774 series.
Dates
- Creation: 1791
Creator
- Belknap, Jeremy, 1744-1798 (Person)
Researcher Access
The Triennial Catalogue annotated by Jeremy Belknap is open for research.
Copying Restriction
Copying of fragile materials may be limited.
Extent
.03 cubic feet (1 volumes)The collection consists of an interleaved and annotated 1791 Triennial Catalogue. The Triennial Catalogues are chronological and cumulative lists of Harvard graduates published every three years from 1674 to 1875. The Catalogues represent Harvard’s first efforts to comprehensively document its graduates and were considered the official record of degree recipients.
Historical Note
Jeremy Belknap was born in Boston on June 4, 1744. He received an AB from Harvard in 1762 and an AM in 1765. He became the minister of the First Congregational Church of Dover, New Hampshire in 1767, and later served as minister at the Church in Long Lane, Boston. As a historian, Belknap published the History of New Hampshire (1784) and American Biography (1794). His work on American Biography led to his interest in Harvard's history, and he explained in a letter two months before his death that he had "formed a design to go thru' the whole Catalogue of the graduates of Harvard College, & relate all that is proper to be related, of what can be known or can be recovered of each & every one of them." Belknap founded the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1791 and also served on the Harvard Board of Overseers. He died on June 20, 1798.
Acquisition information
The volume was the gift of John Belknap of Boston, received on Sept 3, 1846. A note on recto of the flyleaf reads, "Mr. Folsom will have the kindness to take this book to Mr. Sibley, it is left without envelope that he may look into it. J. Belknap June 1, 1846."
References
- Letter from Jeremy Belknap to Richard Cranch, March 27, 1798 in the William Winthrop Collection, 1782-1825. HUM 27, Harvard University Archives.
- Shipton, Clifford K. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts, Volume VII. 1722-1725. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1945.
General note
This document last updated 2018 December 6.
Processing Information
The material was first classified and described in the Harvard University Archives shelflist prior to 1980 as an individual item with the catalog number HUG 2145.191. The material was re-processed in 2010. Re-processing involved a collection survey, reclassification as HUM 29, and the creation of this finding aid.
This finding aid was created by Diann Benti in June 2010.
Preservation and description of the Triennial Catalogue annotated by Jeremy Belknap was supported, in part, by the Arcadia-funded project Harvard in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
Creator
- Belknap, Jeremy, 1744-1798 (Person)
- Title
- Belknap, Jeremy, 1744-1798. Triennial Catalogue annotated by Jeremy Belknap, 1791: an inventory
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua14010
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.
Pusey Library
Harvard Yard
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2461
archives_reference@harvard.edu