Colonial North America: Harvard Law School Library

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Colonial North America: Harvard Law School Library

Colonial North America at Harvard Library provides access to remarkable and wide-ranging materials digitized as part of an ongoing, multi-year project. When complete, the project will make available to the world approximately 650,000 digitized pages of all known archival and manuscript materials in the Harvard Library that relate to 17th- and 18th-century North America. Each item is connected to countless stories—of lives lived quietly and extravagantly, of encounters peaceful and volatile, and of places near and far – providing an opportunity to travel back in time, to rethink familiar stories, and to discover new ones.

Explore the past, present, and future of the law at the Harvard Law School Library. With Historical & Special Collections dating to the twelfth century, modern legal material from around the world, and cutting-edge projects that make the law accessible to all, the Library welcomes students, faculty, and staff and researchers from across the globe.
Barbados. A collection of autograph letters and original documents relating to the Island of Barbados in the 18th century, ca. 1730-1778. HLS MS 1047, Harvard Law School Library.

Barbados. A collection of autograph letters and original documents relating to the Island of Barbados in the 18th century, ca. 1730-1778. HLS MS 1047, Harvard Law School Library.

A miscellaneous collection of letters and legal documents relating to Barbados, especially prize causes, inheritance and enslaved persons. Contents include an autograph letter, dated 4 June 1778, from James Sheppard to John Brawthwaite referring to the American Revolution.

Collaboration is restricted.

125 pages: 52% complete (92% transcribed, 39% needs review)
Barbados. Laws, etc. An Act of Assembly of Barbadoes to regulate sales at outcry and the proceedings of persons executing the office of Provost Marshall General of the said island and their under officers, 1763. HLS MS 1046, Harvard Law School Library.

Barbados. Laws, etc. An Act of Assembly of Barbadoes to regulate sales at outcry and the proceedings of persons executing the office of Provost Marshall General of the said island and their under officers, 1763. HLS MS 1046, Harvard Law School Library.

An Act of Assembly of Barbadoes to regulate sales at outcry and the proceedings of persons executing the office of Provost Marshall General of the said island and their under officers (leaf 1) ; A state of some matters relative to the office of Provost Marshall, and to the passing of this bill...

Collaboration is restricted.

45 pages: 51% complete (62% transcribed, 11% needs review)
Bills of lading for the ship Lydia, 1766. Small Manuscript Collection, Harvard Law School Library.

Bills of lading for the ship Lydia, 1766. Small Manuscript Collection, Harvard Law School Library.

Printed and engraved bills of lading, filled out in manuscript, dated 30 April to 7 May 1766, for goods shipped from London to Boston, Massachusetts.

8 pages: 87% complete (101% transcribed, 13% needs review)
Docket and fees book / prepared by the law office of Timothy Bigelow. 1791-1797. HLS MS 4235, Volume 1, Harvard Law School Library.

Docket and fees book / prepared by the law office of Timothy Bigelow. 1791-1797. HLS MS 4235, Volume 1, Harvard Law School Library.

Records of cases heard in the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas (Middlesex Co.) in Cambridge, Mass., and the New Hampshire Inferior Court of Common Pleas (Hillsborough Co.) in Amherst, N.H and matters brought before justices of the peace. Records identify the litigants, with some notes on fees...

Collaboration is restricted.

197 pages: 5% complete (10% transcribed, 4% needs review)
Docket and fees book / prepared by the law office of Timothy Bigelow. 1791-1797. HLS MS 4235, Volume 2, Harvard Law School Library.

Docket and fees book / prepared by the law office of Timothy Bigelow. 1791-1797. HLS MS 4235, Volume 2, Harvard Law School Library.

Records of cases heard in the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas (Middlesex Co.) in Cambridge, Mass., and the New Hampshire Inferior Court of Common Pleas (Hillsborough Co.) in Amherst, N.H and matters brought before justices of the peace. Records identify the litigants, with some notes on fees...

Collaboration is restricted.

197 pages: 1% complete (2% transcribed)
Godfrey, George, 1720-1793. Papers of George Godfrey, 1739-1792. HLS MS 1380, Harvard Law School Library.

Godfrey, George, 1720-1793. Papers of George Godfrey, 1739-1792. HLS MS 1380, Harvard Law School Library.

Contains summaries of cases citing cause of action, plaintiffs and defendants, sentencing, and costs incurred.

Collaboration is restricted.

359 pages: 0% complete (1% transcribed, 1% needs review)
Hale, John, 1762-1796. Lists of law books belonging to John Hale, ca. 1788-1796. Small Manuscript Collection, Harvard Law School Library.

Hale, John, 1762-1796. Lists of law books belonging to John Hale, ca. 1788-1796. Small Manuscript Collection, Harvard Law School Library.

Consists of 4 lists: an invoice for a shipment of books from Ireland dated 1788; "Prime cost of books in Dublin"; "list of John Hale Esq's books in the office"; "List of books belonging to the estate of John Hale Esq. deceased."

Collaboration is restricted.

11 pages: 45% complete (63% transcribed, 18% needs review)
Henry Phillips Papers, 1728-1738. Folders 1-14. Harvard Law School Library.

Henry Phillips Papers, 1728-1738. Folders 1-14. Harvard Law School Library.

The 17 documents that make up the Phillips Papers span the years 1728-1738 and were likely assembled by Gillam Phillips himself for his extended lawsuit in which he tried to become sole inheritor of his brother, Henry's, estate. The papers fall into three groups: legal papers that relate to...

Collaboration is restricted.

54 pages: 18% complete (63% transcribed, 44% needs review)
Isaacs, Ralph, 1741-1799. Letters to family members, 1799. Small Manuscript Collection, Harvard Law School Library.

Isaacs, Ralph, 1741-1799. Letters to family members, 1799. Small Manuscript Collection, Harvard Law School Library.

Four letters dated March 11, 1799, written from debtors' prison ("Debtors' Apartment") in Philadelphia. Includes descriptions of his life in the prison and fellow prisoners. Isaacs wrote the letters in sequence, on a single sheet a paper, addressed to his brother George Isaacs, and sisters...

8 pages: 62% complete (101% transcribed, 38% needs review)
Law miscellany. 1782-1788. HLS MS 4218, Harvard Law School Library.

Law miscellany. 1782-1788. HLS MS 4218, Harvard Law School Library.

A lawyer's commonplace book of New Hampshire cases. Contains summaries of cases covering such topics as trespass, witnesses, injuries, bailbonds, and counterfeit money. Possibly kept by Jonathan Sewell.

Collaboration is restricted.

40 pages: 50% complete (88% transcribed, 38% needs review)
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