Manasseh Cutler (1742-1823) was instrumental in the establishment of Ohio University. He was part of the Ohio Company of Associates who succeeded in securing a land grant from Congress for a University in the new state of Ohio. Cutler was a minister living in Massachusetts. He was a Yale graduate and father of eight children. He was fascinated by the natural world of plants and animals and kept notebooks filled with observations.
The Manasseh Cutler papers include correspondence, lists of plants and animals, botanical notebooks, and sermons. The botanical notebooks are bound and unbound and contain notes for sermons and a journal diary from 1785. The sermons range from 1774 to 1815.