1 May 1765

Jay, John, 1745-1829

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Robert R. Livingston

Written in response to a letter from Livingston, who was still attending King's College: "I have often remarked Ambition to be one of your strongest Passions, and have as often been misprised that instead of attending to such Persons as are most capable of gratifying so noble a Passion, you seem [illegible] o counteract your own Purposes, and to destroy those very Hopes which you are desirous to establish...." Admonishes him to "reject the Invitations of Syren Pleasure, and fly with hasty Steps the flowerly Vale of Insubstantial Joys." Jay graduated from King's the year before.

GLC07320

1770

Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797

Book signed

Title: A Philosophical Enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

Sixth edition, printed by J. Dodsley in London. Signed on the title page by James Wilson and Bird Wilson. This was an influential eighteenth century English tract on aesthetics.

GLC07322

1775-1788

Header Record

Title: Revolutionary War miscellany [Decimalized .01- .09]

Includes Henry Remsen, Richard Morris, James Rivington, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Stoddert, Elbridge Gerry (as recipient) and Benjamin Huntington.

GLC07474.02

23 September 1772

Sharp, Granville, 1735-1813

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Anthony Benezet

Written by the British abolition leader Sharp to the American Quaker abolition leader Benezet. References Benezet's letter of 14 May 1772. Sends him (not included here) a short answer he "drew up to check the insinuations of those persons who pretend to excuse the practice of Slaveholding by some particular passages of Scripture." Says this is only a small part of what he hopes to write if he can find the leisure. Also sends a copy of a letter he wrote to a friend in Glasgow (not included here) trying to dissuade "the late Highland Emigrants" from going to America, but he was too late. He…

GLC07483.03

1769-1792

Lee, Arthur, 1740-1792

Header Record

Title: 9 letters to William Petty, first Marquis of Lansdown, 1 to William Jones [Decimalized .01- .11]

GLC07865

14 October 1770

Howland, Joseph, 1749-1836

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Describes traveling to Norwich, Connecticut. Comments on the town, its trade, and dances (including the attending ladies). Howland was a friend of Knox's from Boston. He was a ship owner and became a prominent citizen in Norwich.

GLC02437.00001

26 December 1770

Howland, Joseph, 1749-1836

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Thanks Knox for paper and wax, which will be used to continue their correspondence. Describes attending a wedding and reports a courtship, but instead of offering details he quotes the poet Watts, possibly Isaac Watts. Howland was a friend of Knox's from Boston. He was a ship owner and became a prominent citizen in Norwich.

GLC02437.00004

1775-1776

Aitken, Robert, 1735-1802

Magazine

Title: The Pennsylvania magazine, or, American monthly museum.

Nearly complete run, edited in part by Thomas Paine. Total of 13 issues from January to December 1775 (12 issues plus one supplement), January 1776, February 1776 (incomplete with facsimile cover) and March 1776. Two additional issues for April and May 1776 are supplied in photocopy facsimile. (There is one facsimile copy of February 1776.) The famous poem of slave Phillis Wheatley to George Washington is contained in the April 1776 issue (facsimile). Ex-lib marks of Enoch Pratt Library and Newburyport Library.

GLC06466

29 July 1774

Adams, Samuel, 1722-1803

Letter signed

Title: to Ezekiel Williams

Written by Adams as a member of the Massachusetts General Court (he would join the First Continental Congress on 5 September 1774) to Williams as Deputy Commissioner of Prisoners in Connecticut and a Sheriff for Hartford County. References Williams's letter of 25 July 1774. Says the letter was referred to a committee in Boston that was appointed to receive donations for the relief of the poor. Thanks him for the town of Wetherfield, Connecticut's donation of 34 3/4 bushels of wheat, 248 of rye, and 390 of Indian Corn. The donation was made because of the closing of Boston Harbor. Claims "…

GLC06657.01

October 25, 1774

Boston (Mass.). Committee of Donations

Broadsheet

Title: [Request for donations for the poor of Boston]

Broadside listing the twenty six members of the committee (including Samuel Adams, Thomas Boylston, and John Adams) seeks donations in accord with their mission to relieve the "Poor, suffering by means of the Act of Parliament, commonly called the Boston Port-Bill." Discusses the plans and projects supported by the committee. Accompanied Samuel Adams's letter to Ezekiel Williams seeking a donation (see GLC06657.01). The verso mentions a meeting on 25 October 1774 in which ten members joined the committee; their names are listed.

GLC06657.02

1775-1782

Header Record

Title: John Hancock and British Revolutionary letters [decimalized]

GLC06746

18 October 1769-7 June 1770

Denny, Samuel, fl. 1734-1770

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Deed of land to Samuel Denny]

Deed indicating that the heirs of Brigadier Samuel Waldo purchased a particular tract of land from Samuel Denny. Signed by Denny as well as John and Elizabeth Stinson as witnesses. Page 2 has three notes about the land purchase, and is signed by John Stinson, Moses Gill, and Thomas Flucker.

GLC02437.09059

circa 1770-1806

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter

Title: to Mr. Fletcher

Asks Mr. Fletcher to deal with several business matters once he arrives in Boston.

GLC02437.08127

July 1774

Document

Title: [Account of work completed by Thomas Dawes for Admiral Graves]

Possibly refers to Admiral Samuel Graves. Graves pays Dawes for sweeping the chimney, laying a hearth, and other tasks.

GLC02437.09485

circa 1771-1774

Manuscript document

Title: Account of Sales at Grean leafs Auctions

List of account sales for Henry Knox. Includes paper, books, and a trunk. Title taken from docket. Circa date based on other similar documents in the collection.

GLC02437.09916

7 April 1770

Ward, Artemas, 1727-1800

Document signed

Title: to The Province of Massachusetts Bay

Signed by Massachusetts commissioner Brattle and countersigned by Artemas Ward (four times), Samuel Crosby, and Edward Flindt as Selectmen of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Provides list of expenses for the poor transient William Quirk, including room and board and "sundry articles." From docket the cost appears to be slighty over 15 pounds. Brattle says "I apprehend the charges reasonable." Note provided by the selectman says Quirk was from Newfoundland and arrived in their town under "Indigent Circumustances." Brattle became a Loyalist general during the Revolution, while Ward led the…

GLC05535

1774

Lee, Arthur, 1740-1792

Pamphlet

Title: An Appeal to the justice and interests of the people of Great Britain...

Attributed to Arthur Lee. Full title: "An Appeal to the justice and interests of the people of Great Britain, in the present disputes with America. By an old member of Parliament." Printed by J. Almon. Includes half-title and advertisements.

GLC05203

1763

George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820

Broadside

Title: A Proclamation.

The proclamation establishes colonial rule over former French and Spanish possessions in Canada, Florida, Grenada and other areas; it offers tolerance to Roman Catholics; it calls for governments and assemblies like those in existing colonies and recognizes the rights and land ownership of Indian tribes. One of nine known surviving copies. References: Clarence Brigham, British royal proclamations relating to America, 1603-1783; Clements Sale 1996 lot 223. Nine copies are known to survive.

GLC05214

30 December 1770

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Jane Mecom

Written to his sister concerning various matters, including stories of the threatened loss of his position as colonial postmaster, the difficulties he faces for expressing his political opinions, and sending some books Jane had asked for. Franklin comments that the books resemble the opinions of a Mrs. Ilive, whose "Solemn Discourse" attempted "to prove, that this World is the true Hell or Place of Punishment for the Spirits who had transgress'd in a better State, and were sent here to suffer for their sins in Animals of all Sorts."

GLC05508.003

20 July 1773

Hugh, fl. 1773

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Deed of land sale from the various Illinois tribes to signed at Fort Gage, with totems of Indian leaders]

Records a land sale made by the chiefs of several Illinois tribes to several individuals listed. Lists the goods the Indians received and the boundaries of the land. Signed by the commander of Illinois country, Hugh Lord, other grantees, and chiefs of Kazachok, Pewariah and Cahogias tribes. Notarized by James Biddle.

GLC05660

30 November 1767

Adams, John, 1735-1826

Autograph document signed

Title: [Legal document to the Justices of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace at Charlestown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts]

Countersigned by "Jon. Sewall." Legal document created by Adams in defense of the town of Stoneham, Massachusetts. The town of Framingham, Massachusetts had removed James and Rebekah Holden and their daughter Naomi as poor residents who could not support themselves and sent them back to Stoneham, where the officials of Framingham said they were from. Adams says the Holden family was not from Stoneham and that the town should not have to take them in as a charity case. Sewall's note on verso says that Selectmen of Framingham state Stoneham is the home of the Holden family.

GLC05609

11 June 1770

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790

Autograph letter signed

Title: to the Committee of Correspondence in New Jersey

"...[A]ll the duties in the last Revenue Act are repealed, except that on Tea."

GLC07689

1 July 1774

Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803

Letter signed

Title: to Committee of Correspondence for the Colony of Virginia

Co-signed by Samuel Rhoads and Joseph Galloway on behalf of the committee. Galloway was Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and would eventually become a well known Loyalist after his Plan of Union was rejected. References their letter asking the Assembly to communicate their sentiments "on the unhappy Dispute with the Mother Country." Says they cannot see the recent actions of Parliament in any light other than an opportunity to extract funds from the colonies. Hopes for a cool and dispassionate mediation in favor of their rights as English subjects. Hopes the rights of Americans will…

GLC07666

1763-1772

Grenville, George, 1753-1813

Header Record

Title: Collection of Grenville papers re: colonial policy towards colonies [Decimalized .01- .42]

Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister from the spring of April 1763 until July 1765, George Grenville became one of the least loved heads of government over the colonies due to two revenue bills that could be blamed, to an extent, for what eventually propagated into the Revolutionary War. These Acts of Parliament were the Sugar Act of 5 April 1764 and the Stamp Act of 22 March 1765, each designed to raise revenue for a financially limited British Empire.

GLC07654

15 May 1773

Bradbury, Theophilus, 1739-1803

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Title to Cooper's claim]

Outlines the historical basis for the claim [William] Cooper has on lands in the Waldo patent.

GLC02437.09083