In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Harvard received numerous gifts of land and property from benevolent individuals as well as from the General Court of Massachusetts and the proprietors of several settlements in western Massachusetts. The Records of land and property owned by Harvard University contain records related to the land and property owned and managed by Harvard between 1643 and 1835 and include legal documents, leases and memoranda, surveyors' plans and appraisals of many of the properties, correspondence, bills, and other materials. Although management of the land holdings was largely the responsibility of the College Treasurer, these records demonstrate that Harvard's President and other staff were also actively involved in land-related concerns.