Content Description

A 271 page dairy written by Beatrice E. Smither, a young woman working at the law firm Williams and Mullen in Richmond, VA. Over the year of 1925, Smither writes about a variety of topics including work, civic and church clubs, politics, family, friends, as well as her romances with two separate men, Cy and George.

A large majority of the diary is written in longhand, but there are some passages in shorthand as well.

Content warning for mentions of alcholism.

Scope and Contents

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.

Scope and Contents

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.

Scope and Contents Diary, 1942, of a woman in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in the United Kingdom during World War II. Includes information on her job in a department store prior to joining the WAAF, learning to drive, and her job as a driver for the WAAF. There is also details of her social life before and after joining the WAAF. Her name seems to be "Lee E. Bunn." Also included in the diary are pictures and descriptions of airplanes used by the Royal Air Force, pictures of badges of rank...

Scope and Contents

Diary, circa 1920s, of an unknown woman, possibily with the last name Jackson, entitled "Dates." Contains the names of men with whom she went on dates as well as some of the activities in which they participated. There is also information about the time that she would arrive home from these dates, as well as her opinion of how each of them went.

Content Description

A hundred and eighty page diary kept by Elizabeth Todd Gilmore while on a trip to Europe in 1934. Gilmore traveled with her friend Rhea through Austria, England, Italy and Germany. While in the last two countries, Gilmore remarked upon the conditions of the Fascist and Nazi controlled tourist sites she visited.

Content warnings for anti-Semitism

Content Description

Collection contains a manuscript diary kept by a teenage girl studying at Coombe Cottage School, documenting the academic and social life of the last generation of girls to come of age in the antebellum South. It also includes recipes and newspaper clippings.

Scope and Contents The Gregory Family papers follow the family of Virginia Governor John Munford Gregory and wife Amanda Wallace through three generations with letters dating from the 1820’s to the 1920’s. Most items are letters between family members and grant insight into the daily activities and concerns of the Gregory family. The collection also includes correspondence between members of the Gregory family and other acquaintances, including members of the John Tyler family. While most letters are of a...

Scope and Contents

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.

Scope and Contents Diary, 1967, of Lisa Karlin, a young woman on a trip to Israel and Syria. Primarily concerns the places that she visited each day, which include the University of Tel-Aviv, a "Yemonite village," a kibbutz, and a mosque. Karlin also says that they were taken "unofficially" into Syria, where they saw destruction caused by the Six Day War, including destroyed tanks and guns. There are also drawings of Jewish religious symbols throughout the volume. Finally, there is an itinerary at the...

Scope and Contents

Diary, 1935 of Ruth Daisy Lamon of North Adams, Massachusetts. Ruth Lamon attended Drury High School and was a member of the class of 1936. In daily entries, some of which are rather detailed, she talks about her activities, school, social life and sports. Includes a playbill for a high school play.

Scope and Contents

Diaries and photographs, 1937-1949, of Muriel McCormick.  McCormick was a staff member at the United States embassy in Paris, France, from 1945-1946, and much of the collection chronicles her travels through Europe.

Scope and Contents Diaries, circa 1900-1908, of Elizabeth F. McKoy (1887-1984) of Wilmington, North Carolina. Includes entries from her time in high school as well as her time at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Includes information about her meetings with friends, classes she is taking at Converse College, school events, her life as a teacher after college, and other activities.  Elizabeth McKoy became a tutor and author and remained unmarried.  Her diary suggests relationships with other...

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...

Content Description

A compilation of letters and reflections written during the final two years of the Civil War. Elizabeth "Nannie" Rea (1850-1924) was born in Winchester, Virginia and was sent to school at Ingleside Seminary in Baltimore County, Maryland in order to be kept safe from the conflict around Winchester, which changed hands more often than any other rebel city during the war. Her writings include personal reflections on the era she lived in, and letters to her family and friends.

Scope and Contents

Papers, 1920s-1941, of Coral Patridge of New York, New York. Includes a travel diary of a trip she took by train from New York to New Mexico in the 1920s.  Also includes 29 photographic prints, 9 of which feature New York City; some of the photographs also have descriptive information on the back.  There is also an address book, a postcard sent from Germany, and a card with the history of the name "Patridge."

Content Description A forty-seven page diary of a Virginia woman named Pattie Fitzgerald. Alongside school, courting, friends and family, Fitzgerald writes about darker things. She mentions feelings of hopelessness, a murder, and nightmares. Death is the focus of several entries.There are two notes, one letter, and a dried posy in the front of the diary. Fitzgerald practiced signing her name, with several different last names, on the back of the front cover. Content warnings for thoughts...

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, 1933-1937, of Bertha Spandauer, a teenager from Baltimore, Maryland. Primarily concerns her days at school and her social life, including people with whom she goes on dates. She also describes parties to which she goes and how much alcohol she drinks. She also describes an illness that she has and the steps taken to cure it, including pumping her stomach. She eventually becomes engaged to and marries Jules Mornstein in 1937.

Content Description

Collection contains manuscript materials compiled before, during, and after the American Civil War (1861-1865) by a young English-born woman living in Virginia, including a war-time commonplace book and letters documenting her decline into depression during the war, which evidently led to her stay in a mental health facility by 1870.

Scope and Contents Diaries, scrapbooks, and letters, circa 1905-1919, of Ruth Thompson of Indianapolis, Indiana. Includes scrapbooks and diaries of Thompson's time at the Bradford Academy, a women's boarding school in Haverhill, Massachusetts. There are also diaries from after Thompson's graduation, when she returned to Indianapolis. These include entries about World War I, including newspaper clippings of people from her area who were drafted. Finally, there are letters written to Thompson by various...

Scope and Contents

Diary, 1931, of Dorothy Vick, a sixteen year old woman living in Alta Vista, Iowa. Vick attended a Catholic school and attends her local church most Sundays. Entrires are typically a few sentences long and deal with the events of that day. Includes entries about dances which she attended, going to confession at her church, movies that she saw, and her relationships. Vick often writes that she wishes that she could write what she truly thinks and that she wishes she could lock her diary.