Box 1
Contains 84 Results:
No. 1 Eliphalet Pearson a/c Book relating to the Estate of Mary H. Pearson, 1780-1813 Digital
Folio-sized account book in brown paper cover containing accounting records kept by Pearson related to the estate of his daughter Mary Pearson.
The volume is fragile and many pages have torn on fold lines.
Receipts, 1813-1814 Digital
Three receipts, dated November 6, 1813, November 30, 1813, and February 15, 1814, for purchases made by Pearson of silver items crafted by Ebenezer Moulton. The receipts were laid into the back of the account book. A photograph of a ladle made by Ebenezer Moulton and listed in one of the receipts is available in the control file for this collection.
Themes and reviews, 1788-1805 Digital
Small notebook with brown paper covers containing handwritten entries noting the essay topics given to students between 1788 and 1805 according to class. The prompts are in both English and Latin and are generally philosophical quotations or verse from poetry that students responded to in short essays. There is a small handwritten chart for "A Scheme for a Lottery for a New College" laid into the back of the volume.
List of students, 1789 Digital
Small notebook with brown paper covers containing handwritten lists of the members of the Harvard Classes of 1790, 1791, 1792, and 1793 (through Charles Jackson) with unidentified annotations next to some names of a, c, o, s, t, and x.
List of students, 1799-1800 Digital
Small notebook with brown paper covers containing handwritten lists of the members of the Harvard Classes of 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804 with unidentified annotations next to some names of a, c, o, s, t, and x.
Col. Mem., 1799 June Digital
[Natural Philosophy book list], [1790] Digital
One leaf containing a handwritten list of books marked "Natural Philosophy." Entries contain the author's last name and abbreviated title; five books have dates. The page is inscribed "Callender" and likely refers to John Callender (Harvard AB 1790).
[Ethics and Moral Philosophy book list], [1790] Digital
One leaf containing a handwritten list of books with one column marked "Ethics" and the other column marked "Moral Philosophy." Entries contain the author's last name and abbreviated title. The page is inscribed "Vose," likely referring to Roger Vose (Harvard AB 1790), and the verso has a fragment of a poem.
[Ethics and moral philosophy book list], [1790] Digital
One leaf containing a handwritten list of books generally on ethics and moral philosophy, though no subject is identified. Entries contain the author's last name and abbreviated title. The page is inscribed "Paine," likely referring to Robert Treat Paine (Harvard AB 1792), and the verso has a fragment of a student essay on the theme "An undevout astronomer is mad," signed "Paine."
[Eastern and Oriental book list], [1790] Digital
Folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten lists of books on the recto and verso. One side contains a list marked "Orient. Dict'y Biblioth. &c," and other side contains a list marked "Eastern." Entries contain the author's last name, abbreviated title, and imprint year. The lists are written on a repurposed account book leaf marked, "Shares of the Fines and Forfeitures recovered in the 1750."
[Lines from The Adulateur], [ca. 1772] Digital
One leaf containing a handwritten set of lines for Cassius from The Adulateur: A Tragedy, as it is now acted in Upper Servia written by Mercy Otis Warren in 1772.
[Forensic dispute on thinking and the soul], undated Digital
One folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten essay responding to an unidentified opponent's claims that "thinking is essential to the soul." The response begins with the introduction, "In the consideration of this question, I shall only examine one or two of the most material objects of our antagonist." The verso is inscribed: "2d Forensic. not read."
[Forensic dispute on the nature of virtue], undated Digital
Two drafts of a handwritten essay on the nature of virtue, beginning with the prompt, "Whether there be any Virtue in doing good to another merely for the sake of benefiting [sic] ourselves." The last verso is inscribed: "4 Forensic. read."
[Student essay on life's uncertainty] (fragment), undated Digital
Folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten essay on life's uncertainty with an epitaph from English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon (1561-1626): "He that to vain mortality does trust, / But limns the water, or but writes in dust." The remaining pages of the essay are missing.
[Forensic dispute on gaming], undated Digital
Folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten essay on gambling beginning with the prompt: "Gaming is an immorality, a sordid vice, the child of avarice, & a direct breach of that commandment, which forbids us to covet what is our neighbours."
[Forensic disputation on divine rewards and punishments], undated Digital
Folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten essay on the distribution of rewards and punishments by God, beginning with the prompt: "Whether the future good (Happiness) of the whole be only Foundation of Merit & Demerit."
[Forensic disputation on thinking], undated Digital
Folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten disputation arguing that "the mind is active in thinking." The essay begins, "Since I am obliged by academical institution to engage in a dispute..."
[Forensic disputation on reasoning], undated Digital
Folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten disputation on reasoning. The disputation begins with the question: "Whether the Faculty of reasoning is improved by a Knowledge of Syllogym?"
[Excerpt from the poem "Winter"], undated Digital
One leaf containing a handwritten copy of a section of the poem "Winter" by Scottish poet James Thomson (1700-1748). The excerpt begins "'Tis done! dread Winter spreads his latest Glooms," and ends, "And one unbounded Spring encircle all."
[Excerpt from the poem "An Elegy"], undated Digital
Folio-sized leaf containing a handwritten copy of stanzas 13-24 of "An elegy on the late Rt. Hon. W------ P---, Esq," a satirical poem about William Pitt first published in London in 1766. The excerpt begins "Where the dull slave, or Scycophant confess'd," and ends, "And swells quite crimson'd with Britania's Blood." The copy is marked with scribbles.
Proposed plans, [1790] Digital
Four sheets of paper with handwritten drafts of proposed weekly academic schedules for undergraduates indicating schedules for the lectures of Professors Pearson, Edward Wigglesworth, and Samuel Webber.
[Calculation of student exercises by class], [1790] Digital
One leaf containing unidentified handwritten calculations arranged by class, and for the senior class noting differences in quarters according to "vote" or "regulation." Presumably the calculations reflect the number of academic exercises required of each class.
[Draft of a committee report], [1790] Digital
Miscellaneous questions, [1794] Digital
One leaf containing a handwritten draft of queries about the salaries of Professors later incorporated into a 1794 memorial signed by Professors Pearson, Webber, and Tappan and presented to a joint Board of Overseers and Corporation Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the College Treasury.
[Taxation research notes], [1794] Digital
One leaf containing a handwritten incomplete text arguing for the creation of tables containing financial data found in government records and account books, as a means of comparing the value of real estate, silver, and salaries, in part to "ascertain how much of the present expense of supporting a family is to be attributed to the present mode of living." The page has the remnants of a red wax seal.