In his notebook of extracts from the popular school text Geography Anatomiz’d by Patrick Gordon (ca. 1700), 17-year-old Benjamin Lincoln studied the government, religion, climate, and commodities of the major countries and continents of the known world, along with the American colonies from New York and New Jersey, shown here, to Carolina. Lincoln would serve as a major general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. General Manuscripts Bound, no. 608, Manuscripts Division.
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This deed is one of the first recorded land transfers in the New Jersey colony. In return for “sundry species of Tradeing goods,” it grants the land now known as Tinton Falls, New Jersey, “called by the Indians Warumnonung and by the English, The Falls,” to John Bowne, Richard Hartshorne, and James Grover of Middletown. The deed bears the marks and seals of Matappeas, Taptawappamund, and Sepequena, sachems of Toponemese (“inland inhabitants”) of the Lenape Indians. Gift of Harry Irvin Caesar, Class of 1913. General Manuscripts Miscellaneous Collection, Manuscripts Division. 
The binding of this book is made of otterskin, with decorations characteristic of Eastern Woodland Indians. It covers a Hebrew and Chaldean (i.e., Aramaic) dictionary owned by David Brainerd (1718–1747). Brainerd became a missionary after he was expelled from Yale University for making controversial religious statements. He preached for four years among Native Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey before dying in the home of Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), third president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Gift of Mrs. William F. H. Edwards. Edwards Collection, Rare Book Division.
In 1768, John Witherspoon traveled from Scotland to New Jersey to become the sixth president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He was not only a scholar and administrator, but also an influential politician. From 1776 to 1782, he represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence and served on more than 100 committees. In his college lectures on moral philosophy, he cautioned undergraduates like John Ewing Colhoun (Class of 1774), who took these notes, against the excesses of tyranny and unjust government. Gift of John Adrian Larkin, Sr., Class of 1913, in memory of John Adrian Larkin, Jr., Class of 1944. General Manuscripts Bound, no. 233, Manuscripts Division.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier joined the army of Comte de Rochambeau (1725–1807) to fight for the American cause during the Revolutionary War. A topographical engineer, Berthier produced more than 100 maps of the historic march of Rochambeau’s army from Rhode Island to Virginia in 1781. Displayed here is the army’s camp at Princeton from August 31 to September 1. The “Collège” is Nassau Hall. The crossroads at the lower part of the map is the current intersection of Nassau and Harrison Streets. Gift of Harry C. Black, Class of 1909. Louis-Alexandre Berthier Collection, Manuscripts Division.