Group transcription: Annotated almanac, 1775, from the John and Hannah Winthrop collection. 

Almanac containing interleaved pages with entries in John Winthrop's hand. The interleaved pages include brief, nearly daily notes of social engagements and travel by Winthrop during the year the Winthrops were forced to evacuate Cambridge because of the Revolutionary War. The short entries include notes of the Battle of Concord (April 19), a fire in Boston (May 17), the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17), the choosing of councillors at Concord (June 21), and the notable entries "wth Genl Washington (August 12)" and "All day packg up Apparatus & Library" (June 16).  (HUM 9 Box 5 Volume 12)

Digital object, start of interleaved handwritten pages: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:10354442?n=13

HOLLIS:http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/000604438/catalog

Finding aid: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua07010/catalog

 

 

Pair 1: Account of damages done to the College by the Army after April 19th 1775, submitted April 6, 1778.  

This document outlines damage to College property by the Continental Army during its wartime occupation of College buildings. A committee appointed by the Massachusetts General Court recorded repairs to Massachusetts, Hollis, and Harvard Halls, including “208 yards of Painting” and “Two Chapel Window Curtains containing 18 yards of Harriteen,” an inexpensive woolen fabric used in the 18th century for curtains and bed hangings. (UAI 5.120 Box 8)

Digital object, side one (pages 1 and 4) : http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:1074947?buttons=y

Digital object, side two (pages 2 and 3): http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:1074948?buttons=y

HOLLIS: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/010217948/catalog

 

 

Pair 2: Diaries of Benjamin Guild, 1776 and 1778. 

Benjamin Guild (AB 1769) was a Latin tutor at Harvard College from 1776 to 1780. The diaries contain passing references to the activities of American, British, French, and German soldiers during the American Revolution; the invasion of Canada and battles occurring in New York are noted. In August 1778, after visiting Providence, Rhode Island, Guild comments on the disordered state of the city after American soldiers passed through it. He also recounts a visit by officers of the French fleet to the Harvard College library in September 1778 and describes his dinner on board the French man-of-war, Sagitaire. One entry describes an elaborate ball sponsored by John Hancock, held for French soldiers and "Boston ladies," and another refers to the "incursion" of Indians. (HUG 1439.5)

Digital object, entries for November 8-15, 1778: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:17432493?n=75  

HOLLIS:  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/000604282/catalog

 

 

 

Pair 3: Minutes of the Harvard faculty, 1775-1781.

Events precipitating the American Revolution are evident through the Faculty minutes, including a March 1, 1775 incident in which a group of students drinking India Tea at breakfast caused an uproar. The Faculty noted that those students agreed to stop drinking tea as “the use of it is disagreeable to the people of this country in general."  (UAIII 5.5 Box 11)

Digital object, entry for March 1, 1775: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:10954023?n=16

Digital object, entries for June 1 to July 20, 1776:  http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:10954023?n=41

HOLLIS: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/001683354/catalog

Finding aid: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua21010/catalog

 

 

Pair 4: College Laws, 1767.

Leatherbound volume containing a draft of the 1767 College Laws with portions crossed out and edited. Chapter 4, "Of Misdemeanors and criminal Offences" (UAI 15.800 Box 5, Volume 1) 

Digital object, Chapter 4: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:15479529?n=82

HOLLIS: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/009708599/catalog

Finding aid: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua43010/catalog

 

 

 

 

Pair 5: Letters, 1775-1776, from the John Hancock Collection. 

Harvard appointed John Hancock as Treasurer of the College on July 30, 1773. But Hancock's attention to the College waned as his civic responsibilities increased. By the beginning of 1775, he was nearly unresponsive to the repeated pleas of the College for information about its financial status. For more than two years, the Corporation tried to manage the school's funds while requesting action from their Treasurer. The Corporation elected a new treasurer on July 14, 1777.

Letter from John Hancock to Samuel Langdon, March 21, 1775 (UAI 50.27.73 Box 1, Folder 38)  Digital object: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:4734378?n=1

Letter from Samuel Langdon to John Hancock, April 3, 1775 (UAI 50.27.73 Box 1, Folder 39) Digital object: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:4734379?n=1

Letter from John Hancock to Samuel Langdon, May 13, 1776 (UAI 50.27.73 Box 2, Folder 2) Digital object: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:4734419?n=1

HOLLIS: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/002144521/catalog

Finding aid: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua06010/catalog