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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
Dunster, Henry, 1609-1659? Papers of Henry Dunster and the Dunster and Glover families. Letter from Edward Roberts to Henry Dunster, 1655. UAI 15.850 Box 1, Folder 26, Harvard University Archives.
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Dunster, Henry, 1609-1659? Papers of Henry Dunster and the Dunster and Glover families. Letter from Richard Saltonstall to Henry Dunster, 1651. UAI 15.850 Box 1, Folder 14, Harvard University Archives.
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Dunster, Henry, 1609-1659? Papers of Henry Dunster and the Dunster and Glover families. Letter from Henry Dunster of Balehoult, Lancashire, England, to his son, Henry Dunster, Cambridge, New England, 1640 March 20. UAI 15.850 Box 1, Folder 3, Harvard
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Dunster, Henry, 1609-1659? Papers of Henry Dunster and the Dunster and Glover families. Letter from Thomas Greene to Henry Dunster, 1655 August 20. UAI 15.850 Box 1, Folder 27, Harvard University Archives.
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Dunster, Henry, 1609-1659? Papers of Henry Dunster and the Dunster and Glover families. Letter from William Cutter to Henry Dunster, 1654 May 19. UAI 15.850 Box 1, Folder 19, Harvard University Archives.
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![Eliot, Andrew, 1718-1778. Papers of Andrew Eliot, 1734-1777. [Letter from Andrew Eliot to "My Dear Sir," 14 September 1774]. HUM 32 Box 1, Folder 2, Harvard University Archives.](https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/52824149/full/100,/0/default.jpg)
Eliot, Andrew, 1718-1778. Papers of Andrew Eliot, 1734-1777. [Letter from Andrew Eliot to "My Dear Sir," 14 September 1774]. HUM 32 Box 1, Folder 2, Harvard University Archives.
Two-page letter to an unknown recipient discussing the effects of the Revolutionary War on Boston ("at present it's situation is melancholy"). The letter acknowledges the work of the Continental Congress and that its decisions "will be Law to America," and thanks the "munificence of our Friends...
Gannett, Caleb, 1745-1818. Caleb Gannett collection circa 1758-1785. Commonplace book, circa 1770s. HUM 314 Box 1, Folder 2, Harvard University Archives.
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![Gannett, Caleb, 1748-1818. Papers of Caleb Gannett, 1768-1820. [Letter from Thankful Smith to Mary Dunster, ca. 1767]. HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 2, Harvard University Archives.](https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/52824275/full/100,/0/default.jpg)
Gannett, Caleb, 1748-1818. Papers of Caleb Gannett, 1768-1820. [Letter from Thankful Smith to Mary Dunster, ca. 1767]. HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 2, Harvard University Archives.
Handwritten one-page undated letter from Thankful Smith to Mary Dunster of Harwick, Mass. The letter is witnessed by Judith Smith, Elisha Parker, and Caleb Gannett. The short letter is playful and provides cryptic details about Smith's life. Though the letter is closed, "I remain your dutiful...
Guild, Benjamin, 1749-1792. Diaries of Benjamin Guild, 1776, 1778. HUG 1439.5, Harvard University Archives.
These diaries of Benjamin Guild document his travels as a Presbyterian pastor in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The daily entries describe people Guild met and dined with, the food he ate (including strawberries, currants, watermelon, English cherries, and lobster), the funerals he attended,...
![Hancock, John, 1737-1793. John Hancock Collection, 1754-1792. Copy of the letter sent to Gen. Hancock by the President, inclosing the vote, on the other side of this [1778 October 22]. UAI 50.27.73 Box 1, Folder 60, Harvard University Archives.](https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/23074523/full/100,/0/default.jpg)
Hancock, John, 1737-1793. John Hancock Collection, 1754-1792. Copy of the letter sent to Gen. Hancock by the President, inclosing the vote, on the other side of this [1778 October 22]. UAI 50.27.73 Box 1, Folder 60, Harvard University Archives.
Copy of the letter to Hancock from President Langdon, with a copy of the vote of the Corporation of 1778 October 20, regarding the formation of a committee to settle the College accounts with Hancock, on the verso. The letter requests Hancock choose a meeting time with the Committee to "receive...