About
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.
Discover 400 years of intellectual pursuits, discoveries, culture, social life, and work of the Harvard community, on campus and beyond. A national treasure, the Harvard University Archives welcomes students, faculty, and staff and researchers from across the globe.
Works
Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848. Letter from John Quincy Adams to his brother, Thomas Boylston Adams, 1786 July 2. HUD 786.3.1, Harvard University Archives.
Metadata:
Baker family. Papers of the Baker Family, 1687-1898. Will of Judah Baker, September 24, 1790. HUM 133 Box 1, Folder 15, Harvard University Archives.
Will of Judah Baker (1705-1794) lists bequests to sons Timothy, Barnabas, and Judah Baker; daughters Deborah Chase, Elizabeth Burgess, Mary Chase, and Tamsey Burgess; and granddaughter Rebecah Swain.
Bates, Daniel, 1779-1799. Letters from Daniel Bates to William Jenks, May 1795-September 1798. HUD 795.6, Harvard University Archives.
Daniel Bates wrote these five letters to his friend and classmate, William Jenks, between May 1795 and September 1798. In a letter written May 12, 1795, Bates informs Jenks, who was then employed as an usher at Mr. Webb's school, of his studies of Euclid, the meeting of several undergraduate...
Bentley, William, 1759-1819. Papers of William Bentley, 1783-1815: an inventory. Biographical notes on John Stark, [1810 March]. HUG 1203.5 Box 1, Folder 16, Harvard University Archives.
One leaf containing a page of handwritten biographical notes on Revolutionary War hero General John Stark in Bentley's hand. The note is written on the verso of a short letter from J. Pitcairn regarding a deliver for the "Rev. D. Bently" dated March 2, 1810. The notes were likely copied from the...
Bentley, William, 1759-1819. Papers of William Bentley, 1783-1815: an inventory. Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1783 December 1. HUG 1203.5 Box 1, Harvard University Archives.
Two leaves containing a four-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley providing a biographical description of English judge John Bradshaw (1602-1659).
Bentley, William, 1759-1819. Papers of William Bentley, 1783-1815: an inventory. Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1783 November 20. HUG 1203.5 Box 1, Harvard University Archives.
Two octavo-sized leaves containing a two-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley discussing the "trials of the Regicides" during the reign of King Charles II.
Bentley, William, 1759-1819. Papers of William Bentley, 1783-1815: an inventory. Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1783 October 23. HUG 1203.5 Box 1, Harvard University Archives.
One octavo-sized leaf containing a one-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley referencing "business" that Winthrop entered his "written protest" of, and the upcoming ordination of Timothy Hilliard as the new minister of Cambridge, Mass.
Bentley, William, 1759-1819. Papers of William Bentley, 1783-1815: an inventory. Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1784 April 11. HUG 1203.5 Box 1, Harvard University Archives.
One folio-sized leaf containing a two-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley discussing the case of "Capt. H." whose ship was "legally condemned by the French Court.
Bentley, William, 1759-1819. Papers of William Bentley, 1783-1815: an inventory. Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1784 April 6. HUG 1203.5 Box 1, Harvard University Archives.
Two folio-sized leaves containing a two-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley discussing Joseph Priestley's Disquisitions relating to matter and spirit, and possible references to astronomical phenomena in mythological stories. Winthrop briefly mentions a 1769 Harvard student poem...
Bentley, William, 1759-1819. Papers of William Bentley, 1783-1815: an inventory. Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1784 February 8. HUG 1203.5 Box 1, Harvard University Archives.
Two folio-sized leaves containing a two-and-a-half-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley with a lengthy discussion on a recent comet and related calculations.