1764, Harvard University, letter to Governor Benning Wentworth, great fire

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1764, Harvard University, letter to Governor Benning Wentworth, great fire:
$283.67

This is a wonderful, original manuscript letter written circa 1764, written on behalf of the President and fellows of Harvard University, regarding the recent great fire that destroyed Harvard Hall. The manuscript is written in very small script, though easy to read when magnified. Manuscript begins stating that it pleased the almighty to take the libary and consume it in the great fire at Harvard Hall....leaving the students without access to any great books.

The great and generous assembly of Massachusetts has given 500 pounds in the building of Hollis Hall, but it does have enough room for the proper offices of a library. Many great gentlemen have given subscriptions to help the religious youth of this great University...but are humbly requesting more...

A very interesting memorandum, one page, very small handwriting, not fully translated...in need of further research. Letter is 8x9, overall fine shape.

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.

Of the 5,000 volumes in the library’s collection, considered the most extensive in the colonies, only 500 books survived. Approximately 400 were checked out of the library on loan to faculty, students, and other members of the community, and about 100 newly acquired volumes, not yet unpacked, escaped the “general ruin.”

With Harvard students on winter recess and a smallpox epidemic raging in Boston, the Massachusetts General Court held meetings in Harvard Hall that winter. According to a statement issued by then Harvard president Edward Holyoke, the blaze was believed to have begun in a beam under the hearth in the library, where the fireplace was in use for the comfort of the General Court. The fire then spread to the floor beams and quickly engulfed the structure in flames, destroying the building and most of its contents. Wind carried sparks toward Massachusetts Hall, Stoughton Hall, and the newly-constructed Hollis Hall in Harvard Yard, but these were quickly extinguished by the combined efforts of the General Court members and Cambridge residents who supplied the town’s fire engine with water.

Due to their presence in Harvard Hall at the time of the fire, the Massachusetts General Court claimed responsibility, and subsequently funded the reconstruction of Harvard Hall. Generous donors, including Thomas Hollis V andJohn Hancock, also contributed funds and books to the College to rebuild the library’s collection. By 1766, just two years later, a new Harvard Hall had been constructed, and the library’s collection surpassed the number of volumes in its possession before the fire.

The numerous giftsofbooks and money that came to the College for the restorationofthe Library after its destruction byfirein1764are noticed in the Donation Book,....ProvinceofNew Hampshire. At the recommendationofGov.Benning Wentworththe General Assembly voted ^300 with which, under the careofRev. East Apthorp, 743 vols, were bought.

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