Records of books spared from 1764 Harvard Hall fire and subsequent gifts, 1764-1778

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Records of books spared from 1764 Harvard Hall fire and subsequent gifts, 1764-1778

http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/hua58010/catalog

On the night of January 24, 1764, a devastating fire destroyed Harvard Hall, and with it Harvard College's collection of scientific instruments ("philosophical apparatus") and most of the books in its library. In the aftermath of the fire, librarians compiled lists of books which were in circulation and thus spared from the fire. They also kept lists of the many gifts and benefactions, large and small, which poured in from individuals and organizations to assist in the rebuilding of the library collections and scientific apparatus. This collection contains those lists of spared books and lists of gifts and benefactions.

.65 cubic feet; (1 document box and 7 oversize folders)

Harvard University Archives.

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SNAC Resource ID: 6385659

Harvard University Archives.

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Harvard college library

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s28v8m (person)

The Harvard College Library used ledgers to record the loans of books from the library's collection during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The presence of what appear to be call-slips from 1823 to 1826 and the lack of ledgers for this period is unaccounted for in the literature cited in the bibliography. Late in the nineteenth century, librarians recognized that the ledger system could not provide the flexibility needed to control large collections. At the Harvard College L...