This collection consists of a composition book belonging to Jonathan Brace, Jr., a Presbyterian minister of Hartford, Connecticut during the mid-19th century. The book, which dates from Brace's years as a student at Yale and Amherst (1827-1831), bears the title "Jonathan Brace Jr's Book: Containing Orations, Compositions, Disputes, &c." Included are Brace's debate positions on such questions as "Ought an Infidel to be Eligible to Office?" and "Are Capital Punishments Justifiable?" Also included are essays, such as "On Eminent Poets and Their Productions" and "On Chastity," and several oration texts, such as "The American Aboriginal."