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
Hancock, John, 1737-1793. John Hancock Collection, 1754-1792. [Memorandum to John Hancock signed by Samuel Langdon, 1775 October 2]. UAI 50.27.73 Box 1, Folder 18 , Harvard University Archives.
Memorandum directing Hancock to pay Samuel Kirkland, with copy of the vote of the President and Fellows to continue funding Kirkland's missionary work among the Oneida Indians. Payment acknowledged on verso by Kirkland in Philadelphia, November 2, 1775.
Hancock, John, 1737-1793. John Hancock Collection, 1754-1792. [Receipt signed by Samuel Kirkland for support as a missionary, 1773 October 9]. UAI 50.27.73 Box 1, Folder 11, Harvard University Archives.
The note also mentions money advanced to "Deacon Thomas and the other Indian Catechists the year past."
Hancock, John, 1737-1793. John Hancock Collection, 1754-1792. [Receipt signed by Samuel Langdon, 1774 November 23]. UAI 50.27.73 Box 1, Folder 15 , Harvard University Archives.
Receipt signed by President Langdon listing the charges owed him by the Harvard Corporation for moving his family to Cambridge.
Handcock, Thomas. Description of a College Chamber (manuscript copy), ca. 1744. HUD 2744, Harvard University Archives.
This humorous, rhyming poem appears to have been co-authored by Thomas Handcock of Massachusetts and Richard Waterman of Warwick, Rhode Island. The document is also signed by Catharine Waterman. Neither of the authors attended Harvard College, and the circumstances of this poem's creation are...
Harvard College Library. Early Harvard College Librarian's papers, 1715-1727. Catalog of books in the chest sent by Thomas Hollis to Boston, 1720 January 1. UAIII 50.27.14 Box 1, Folder 2, Harvard University Archives.
This one-page document contains a list of books sent to Increase Mather (1639-1723; Harvard AB 1656) by Captain Chadder on behalf of English Harvard benefactor Thomas Hollis (1659-1731).
Harvard College Library. Early Harvard College Librarian's papers, 1715-1727. Payment order to the Harvard College Treasurer, 1721 August 15. UAIII 50.27.14 Box 1, Folder 3, Harvard University Archives.
This slip of paper contains a request from President John Leverett to the College Treasurer John White to pay William Cook for his work as library keeper, pursuant to a Harvard Corporation vote on June 28, 1720.
Harvard University. Corporation. Corporation papers, 1st series, supplements to the Harvard College Papers, circa 1650-1828. Draft petition from the President and Fellows of Harvard College to the General Court, January 1799. UAI 5.120 Box 4, Folder 11,
Incomplete draft of petition for changes to the act establishing two permanent tutors.
Harvard University. Corporation. Corporation papers, 1st series, supplements to the Harvard College Papers, circa 1650-1828. Letter from Edward Wigglesworth to Loammi Baldwin, July 26, 1781. UAI 5.120 Box 2, Folder 82, Harvard University Archives.
The letter consists only of the text from a vote at the Corporation meeting of July 26, 1781, thanking Baldwin among others for their attendance at the College for Commencement. The letter is accompanied by a copy of a vote from the Corporation meeting of July 4, 1781, signed by Wigglesworth,...
Harvard University. Corporation. Corporation papers, 1st series, supplements to the Harvard College Papers, circa 1650-1828. Letter from Richard Bellingham, Boston, April 22, 1672. UAI 5.120 Box 1, Folder 7, Harvard University Archives.
Written "with the advice of the rest of the overseers of Harvard Colledge in New England" to Richard Saltonstall, Nicholas Gregson, Rev. John Knowles, Robert Newman, and Anthony Wilson. Bellingham appointed the five men trustrees of the Overseers, giving them the authority to collect donations...
Harvard University. Corporation. Corporation papers, 1st series, supplements to the Harvard College Papers, circa 1650-1828. Letter from William Brett to Governor Thomas Prence, [circa 1660s?]. UAI 5.120 Box 1, Folder 5, Harvard University Archives.
William Brett worked with Mr. [James?] Keith to promote the design of the College; twelve pounds of Indian corn are to be delivered to an unspecified town. The undated letter also discusses attempts to purchase lands by the Titicut River.