From the vote by which the Library was given to his care, May 1, 1772, we learn that he had acted as substitute for William Mayhew for over two years.

The next year he issued the second printed catalogue of the Library under the following title: Catalogus Librorum in Bibliotheca Cantabrigiensi selectus, frequentiorem in usum Harvardinatum qui Gradu Baccalaurei in Artibus nondum sunt donati.

Two years later, when the College buildings were occupied by the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, it became necessary to remove the Library to a place of safety.

The Provincial Congress voted, June 15, 1775, "that the Library apparatus and other valuables of Harvard College be removed as soon as may be to the town of Andover, that Mr. Samuel Phillips, Mr. Daniel Hopkins, and Dummer Jewett Esq.

the President, the Honble Mr. Winthrop', and the Librarian or such of them as may be conveniently obtained and with them to engage some suitable Person or persons in said town to transport, receive and take the charge of the above mentioned effects, that said Committee join with other gentlemen in employing proper persons in packing said Library apparatus and such other articles as they shall judge expedient and take all due care that it be done with the greatest safety and despatch."

While the books were being thus packed up, Winthrop, who was an ardent patriot, was taking part in the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he received a wound in the neck.

In the spring of 1775, Winthrop had been appointed postmaster at Cambridge; but after six weeks he felt obliged to resign.

In a letter (July 5, 1775) to the president of the Provincial Congress, he says : "As the office will not furnish the single article of victuals, as the establishment is at present, I shall be constrained to quit the place of business and seek for a sustenance somewhere else.

At this time, Harvard's finances were at the lowest ebb, partly on account of the hard times occasioned by the war, and partly because the Treasurer, John Hancock, was too engrossed in public affairs to attend to the business of the College.

[3] He was the speculated author of the Letters of Agrippa (November 1787 – January 1788),[6] which appeared in the Massachusetts Gazette.

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Potter, Alfred Claghorn; Bolton, Charles Knowles (1897).