Overview
Autograph collection of 17th and 18th-century British politicians.
Dates
- Creation: 1691-1788 and undated
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
This collection is not housed at the Houghton Library but is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 box)Collection of autograph manuscript signatures of British politicians, cut from 17th and 18th-century British documents. Cuttings were pasted onto separate sheets of paper and labeled: No. 1 through No. 58. Each cut page has multiple signatures. Includes signatures of prime ministers, members of Parliament, and government officials, including George Grenville, Lord Frederick North, Henry Pelham, and Robert Walpole, among many others.
Collection also included typescript list, item (59). This list includes page references to each autograph, titles and positions held by these persons, and birth and death dates. Some sheets include dates and the compiler of this list has assumed that every signature on that page was signed on that date. These dates have been retained in cataloging below.
Arrangement
Arranged in order as received.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Found with: MS Storage 281. Collection materials assembled by Carolyn Jakeman.
General note
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. See access restrictions below for additional information.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
- Title
- Autographs of British politicians, 1691-1788: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02227
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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