Special Collections Research Center

Scope and Contents

The daily diary of teenager Florence Adams from 1927-1930. She discusses her social and family life throughout. Some sample entries can be found in the folder description below.

Diary has a slight smell of perfume.

Scope and Contents Diaries, 1934-1939, of Barbara Booth of Rochester, New York. The first volume is an autograph and photograph album, with photographs of friends, and notes written to Booth. In the volume Booth states that she goes to Monroe High School.The second volume is a diary, 1935-1939, in which she records her daily life, activities she does with her friends, dances and other social events that she attends, and other activities. In the later entries she mentions her marriage to a man named...

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Diary, 1933, of Glenna Blosser of Indiana. Topics include Franklin D. Roosevelt's election and inauguration, the Long Beach Earthquake in March, and the crash of the Akron, a US navy airship.  She also mentions topics such as birthdays, her Christmas presents, school, and family illnesses, among others.

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Diary, 1957, of Carol Lee Nimon (b. 1945) of Burbank, California. She was a sixth grader at the time she kept this diary and her daily entries cover school, activities with family and friends, like shopping and dance parties, having a boy friend, getting an autograph of Debbie Reynolds, etc. Lists names and addresses of her friends in the back.

Also included are a few loose items, like letter drafts and miscellaneous notes.

Scope and Contents This collection contains the diary of Ella Casaday of Tompkins County, New York, who was approximately 17 years old during 1864. She writes about the Civil War and its effects on her hometown, including political parties, hearing a "war sermon," the election of 1864, and other actions of Lincoln. She also wrote about her daily life, including religion, her schooling, a marriage between two African Americans, and relationships with friends and family. Finally, the diary also includes mention...

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Diary, circa 1930s, of a teenager named Darlene from Colfax, Washington. She discusses such topics as relationships, friends, movies she watches, and events which she attends, among other items. She also describes her activity as a baton twirler.  For excerpts provided by the seller, click on the Finding Aid link below.

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Diary of Dodie Bailey of Bailey's Cross Roads, Virginia, near Falls Church. She began the diary when she was 14 years old and ended it in 1933 when she was 21 years old.

She talks of her social life which includes dates, dances, swimming, movies, drives, church, family events and school - but mostly about boys.

Diary is bound with a clasp, but the pages are loose. Pages appear to be from different diaries. Key to diary is included.

Scope and Contents The diaries were kept in three separate appointment books. Each book had the year displayed on its cover, and the pages inside were set up to show the day’s appointments. Nancy made her entries in the 1951 appointment book and in the following two years, she made her entries in the books for 1952 and 1953. Because the space assigned for the days’ appointments in each book was fixed, she generally limited her daily entries to the space available, but she frequently wrote in the margin to note...

Scope and Contents Diary of Macy Flinn (b. ca. 1896) of Maine for the years 1909-1910. Macy Flinn, who lived near the towns of Waterville and Sidney, Maine, was starting high school at the time she began her diary. In brief daily entries she records weather, helping her parents with the business, social activities like playing games with friends, taking trips to town, books she read, horseback riding, etc. There are also two poems following the last  entries.  From time to time Macy uses Greek characters for...

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Scrapbooks, 1923-1926, kept by Alma Mae Clarke Fontaine while a schoolgirl in New Rochelle, N. Y. containing clippings, reviews and programs from theater productions in New York, N. Y. as well as excerpts from her diary pertaining to the New York theater.

Scope and Contents Diary of Phyllis Gabowitz of Highland Park, Middlesex County, New Jersey. She was a 6th grade student at the time she wrote her diary in 1958. The "Ponytail" diary measures 4" x 5 1/2", and has 123 handwritten entries. Included with the diary is a 5" x 7" photograph of the author and her classmates, and on the back of the photograph she gives the names of her those shown in the picture. The following description was provided by the seller: "Phyllis writes of watching TV shows...

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Diary, 1890-1897, of Katherine Hamilton of Shreveport, Louisiana. The first part of the diary details a trip that Hamilton took to Europe aboard the steamship Scythia, from June 1890 to September 1890. The next part of her diary details a trip that Hamilton took to New Orleans in December 1892. The rest of the diary includes very brief entries about particular days, including when she visited Chicago for the World's Fair in 1893.

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Girl Scout Memory Book, 1934-36, compiled by teenager Harriet Simmons of Staunton, Virgina. Harriet Simmons documented her girl scout summer camps and Camp May Flather, near Harrisonburg, Virginia, with photographs, clippings and handwritten diary entries. She also records her badges, overnight hikes, swimming lessons and other activities. Included are 2 ID cards, and a photo postcard of the camp.

Scope and Contents Two diaries, January 1941-December 1942, kept by a German school girl. Both volumes are called "Kriegstagebuch" (War Diaries) and were most likely part of an regular school assignment or created under direction of the "Bund Deutscher Maedel" which was a constituent of the Hitler Youth.For the most part the entries document events of war like battles, news from occupied territories and the occasional news of members of the National Socialist Party or of military personnel. The...

Scope and Contents Diaries of Jean Smith and Edward Smith, siblings of Hawley, Minnesota. Edward Smith's diary primarily concern his school activities, jobs which he performs around the town, and interactions he has with members of the community. Jean Smith's diary primarily concerns the sickness and death of Edward Smith and her family's reaction to his death. There is also a letter of condolence, dated March 7, 1883, written by Jean Smith's uncle to her father, Oscar Smith. Finally, there are calling cards...

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Diary, 1945-1947, of Joanne Mason, a teenager from Long Beach, California. Includes descriptions of her relationship with her mother, including fights that they had; her relationships with various young men; parties which she attends; alcohol consumption; her school and schoolwork; and trips that she took, among other items.

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Diary of Lydia Miller, a high school girl or young college or vocational school student from Prospect, Illinois for the years 1936-1939. Daily entries describe events at school, life at home with her parents, and social activities like visiting with friends, going to shows and attending dances. Also included are 5 loose leaves detailing some of the dances, what clothes she wore, who she danced with, who her favorite boyfriend was, etc.

Scope and Contents Sarah M. Mead’s journal is a small, leather bound book, approximately 4" X 6.5" (10 cm X 16 cm) in size. It consists of 138 unnumbered pages. According to the first page, she began it on July 15, 1850, when she was “Age - 12 years,” living in Penn Yan, New York.1 She notes very early her attendance at “Mrs. N. M. Hubbell’s school.” Later, she says she is going to “Miss Mary Drakes [sic] school.” Like many journals or diaries, there are gaps between her entries. It appears she...

Scope and Contents Lucy P. Ruddy’s journal is a small one, only covering the period from January 1 - August 3, 1893. The faintly lined pages are unnumbered, except for a few that Lucy numbered at the beginning (pages 1 - 13). She began this journal as a young woman living in late 19th century New England, apparently in or near Lynn, Massachusetts. On her title page, she displayed her name “Lucy P. Ruddy,” the year “1893,” and a solemn declaration, ”This year for Christ,” followed by her initials....

Scope and Contents Diary, 1901 of Elizabeth P. Stone of North Rose, Wayne County, N.Y.  Daily entries describe household chores, social activities, and family life on a farm. The following description was provided by the seller: "Elizabeth lives in good circumstances on a farm with her mother and father and her brother.  They have domestic livestock and land to cultivate.  The diary gives a very full view of what life was like during this period.  She is not a small child.  She has daily or weekly...

Scope and Contents

Diary of Mabel Towne (b. 1873), of Norway, Maine, for the year 1887. In brief daily entries, Mabel records weather, family life and social activities.

For a more detailed description, provided by the seller, see finding aid link below.

Scope and Contents Diary, 1914, of Pearl A. Warner, a sixteen-year-old teenage girl from Moravia, Cayuga County, New York (State), where she lived with her parents, older sister and younger brother. In daily entries of varying length, Pearl talks about daily activities, events in school and in town, family, neighbors and friends. At the time the diary was written, Pearl's father owned a meat market in town. The bound volume entries end in mid-July and entries for the rest of the year are inserted...

Scope and Contents Two diaries, 1907-1908 kept by Claire Lilian Wight (b. 1894) of  Kalamazoo, Michigan. Claire Wight was 13 years old when she began her first diary in 1907. Claire records daily activities such as school visits, reading, attending concerts, social and family activities, vacations, taking music lessons and playing tennis and going to the YWCA. Also included are two calling cards, one of Claire's and one of her uncle as well as a newspaper clipping for the "Tennessee Colored Jubilee Singers,"...

Scope and Contents Diaries, 1930-1931 of Dorothy Lee Willmering (b. circa 1915) of Columbus City, Louisa County, Iowa. Dorothy, who was about 15 when she started her diaries, lived with her mother and older sister. Dorothy mentions visiting her father (her parents were divorced) and receiving letters from him. She also mentions her group of friends, boy friends, social activities and not doing well in school. For a more detailed description and excerpts, both provided by the seller, see...