John Davis Commencement poem collection, ca. 1780s

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John Davis Commencement poem collection, ca. 1780s

John Davis Commencement poem collection, ca. 1780s

http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua11011/catalog

This collection contains five handwritten copies of Harvard graduate John Davis's 1781 Commencement poem. John Davis later served for forty years as a United States Court Judge in Massachusetts, and was Harvard's Treasurer from 1810 to 1827. The poem was delivered by Davis as part of the Commencement exercises on July 18, 1781, during the College's first public Commencement since the Revolutionary War interrupted the annual tradition in 1773. The poem imitates a classical style popular among Harvard Commencement poems of the late 18th century but is unusual in its focus on the Revolutionary War. The copies of Davis's poem were likely made between 1782 and 1785 by students, and may have been created because of the poem's popularity or as a class assignment.

.1 cubic feet; (1 flat box)

Harvard University Archives.