Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The content of these letters, sermons, documents, and other materials reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich (1903-1996), most prominently subjects pertinent to Christianity, home, and the family.

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The manuscripts reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich, most prominently Christianity, home, and the family. Items include sermons from prominent ministers or preachers of different Protestant denominations, documents related to church operations and discipline, letters by prominent and everyday persons respecting their faith and beliefs, correspondence of missionaries, and reflections on religion's role in all manner of human endeavor.

The collection is comprised of over 260 letters, manuscript sermons and hymns, documents, and other items. For a comprehensive inventory and details about each item in the collection, please see the box and folder listing below.

The Women, Gender, and Family collection contains miscellaneous individual items relating to women, gender, and family primarily in America, between 1678 and 1996.

The Women, Gender, and Family collection contains miscellaneous items relating to women, gender, and family between 1678 and 1996. The bulk of the collection ranges in from 1800 to the early 20th century and is geographically focused on the United States of America. Topics include marriage and divorce, childrearing and motherhood, household management, and consensual and coerced sex. Other areas of interest cover women’s various forms of labor, legal restitution for paternity suits and financial support, and education for women and children. While not as heavily represented, multiple items detail women's engagement in politics, slavery and abolition, and women's rights.

The Nathaniel Stacy papers include correspondence, documents, sermons, and other materials which relate to the personal and professional life of Mr. Stacy, a Universalist preacher.

The Nathaniel Stacy papers include eight boxes of material relating to every aspect of the personal and professional life of a Universalist preacher operating in the hot bed of the Second Great Awakening, the Burnt-Over District of New York. Boxes 1 through 4 contain correspondence arranged chronologically, 1803-1867, followed by undated correspondence arranged alphabetically by author. Box 5 contains Stacy's preaching log, listing date, place and text taken for sermons given between 1803 and 1864, sometimes with additional notes concerning funerals or other special occasions. Box 6 contains 30 numbered lectures given by Stacy in Ann Arbor in 1837 and 1838. Only the first of these is specifically dated. They are filed in numerical order with text taken noted on the folder. Boxes 7 and 8 contain material arranged topically, filed alphabetically by folder title. The Box-Folder listing provides detail. Included in these boxes are Stacy's diaries, with an unbroken run from 1835 through 1868 and scattered earlier and undated fragments, and 18 folders of sermons arranged by text. The bulk of the collection centers around Stacy and the members of his immediate family, and includes some materials generated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by his grandchildren or great-grandchildren, the Smiths of Corry, Pa. The unidentified photographs are probably of these family members.

The Stacy collection is a rich resource for historians of the Universalist Church. Stacy was part of what might be called a second generation of American Universalist preachers, taught by Hosea Ballou and influenced by other members of the General Convention of Universalists of the New England States and Others. He was among the first to preach the doctrine of universal salvation in New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, and in each state he founded a number of local societies and regional associations. Stacy's papers vividly document the hardships involved in the life of an itinerant preacher of an unpopular doctrine. The financial difficulties inherent in such a career are reflected in his appeals to various Societies for whom he preached to honor their subscriptions or allow him to leave, and in letters from other struggling preachers bemoaning their meager earnings or looking for a better place; they are implicit in all his financial juggling and in schemes for supplementing his income, ranging from the disastrous reprinting of Marie Hubers's The State of Souls Separated From Their Bodies (1:46) to an ill-fated speculation in cheese (3:91). The individual societies for whom Stacy preached are variously documented in 8:35-39. For example, materials concerning the Society in Hamilton are unfortunately sparse, consisting of one letter of appeal from Stacy and a draft report to the Western Association of Universalists. The Society in Columbus is better documented, with a constitution and list of members dated 1834 and a record of church proceedings from 1834 to 1847 as well as a number of Stacy's accounts and subscription lists. The run of undated sermons (8:18-35) is useful for study of Universalist doctrine, as are the dated occasional sermons which may be found in the card catalog under Stacy's name. Running throughout the correspondence is a considerable debate on the subject of universal salvation versus endless misery, and these debates are echoed and extended in Stacy's diaries and Memoirs.

Stacy's ministry in New York occurred during one of the most volatile periods in the state's history. The collection documents the intense interest in religion in general and the willingness to question established doctrine which characterized the Burnt-Over District during this period. Letters such as one dated January 1, 1819 (1:37) offer moving descriptions of the spiritual hunger and emotional turmoil which stirred many, although a counterbalance is offered in such letters as the one dated January 20, 1828 (2:9) which offers a rationalistic discussion of the illogical nature of such biblical imagery as that of armies of angels in heaven. A number of Stacy's correspondents describe protracted religious meetings and local revivals (indexed under Revivals; and Enthusiasm). Universalist ministers generally disapproved of the techniques of the evangelical churches, and Stacy avidly collected stories of people driven to madness, infanticide, and suicide by Calvinism (1:59; 3:78,92). Yet it is also clear, as one fellow minister pointed out to Stacy, that the Universalist Church benefited both by the interest in religion stirred up by the revivals and by the renewed commitment of the enlightened who found such meeting objectionable (3:11) A letter from a niece turned Mormon requests Stacy to "give me the Names of your Anchestors as far back as you can gain eny knowledge and also give me the Names of your Children that are dead that I may have them to be handed down from generation to generation after me" (4:38). In another interesting series of letters, Stacy acts as advocate for an elderly neighbor, a former Shaker who had been expelled from their community, and who was seeking their support (see subject index under Shakers).

In Michigan and Ann Arbor, Stacy experienced the region's transition from territory to state and the hard times following the Panic of 1837. His correspondence from this period, and in particular his diaries, which he began to keep regularly upon his removal to Michigan, offer a window onto life in a frontier town. Although his daily entries are seldom lengthy, the cumulative effect of the diaries is to provide a rich picture of Stacy's social and economic setting and, as a side benefit, of his very appealing personality.

Those interested in Freemasonry and the Antimasonic excitement which played such an important role in determining Stacy's actions will find materials of interest in the collection. Two examples of Antimasonic rhetoric are found in letters dating from 1829, written by a kinswoman who exhorted Stacy to divest himself of the "vile robes" of the "base ferternity," while listing the ghastly crimes committed by Masons (2:15,17). Clippings concerning his Masonic affiliation and two speeches delivered in lodges are included in 8:14. Also of interest are two series of legal materials: one concerning the estate of David Curtis, founder of Columbus, Pa., for which Stacy acted as executor (7:1), and one concerning the legal separation of Stacy's niece, Rhoda Porter Thompson from her second husband (8:41). Each set of documents includes an inventory of the principal's household goods. Stacy's register of marriages (8:13) and his log of sermons, which often gives some detail about those at whose funerals he preached (5), include useful material for genealogists. The subject index includes topics covered in less detail in the papers, such as Stacy's chaplaincy during the second campaign at Sackett's Harbor in the War of 1812, and his involvement in various Temperance groups.

A currently unidentified shipping merchant operating out of New York, New York, maintained this daybook between 1811 and 1813, recording the daily financial transactions of his firm which was trading with the West Indies, along the Atlantic seaboard, and France, among other ports. Business records document details about traded goods including sugar, rum, and other wares, as well as labor costs and more.

A currently unidentified shipping merchant operating out of New York, New York, maintained this daybook between 1811 and 1813, recording the daily financial transactions of his firm which was trading with the West Indies, along the Atlantic seaboard, and France, among other ports. Main customers included Hoffman & Glass, Francis Markoe, Thomas Masters, David Finlay, Pratt & Kintzing, and William Heyling among others. Several entries relate to transactions with Elizabeth Heyliger, daughter of trader William Heyliger of the West Indies (July 31, 1811; December 31, 1811; September 1, 1812).

The firm was trading in St. Croix sugar and rum as well as shipping "sundries from New York to St. Croix." Other goods traded included sugar from Brazil and Cuba, mahogany, tea, whiskey, wine, tobacco, flour, corn meal, and other foodstuffs, molasses, coffee, cigars, and fabrics. Business expenses were also recorded, such as costs relating to laborers, ship maintenance and hire, advertising, cartage and wharfage, custom duties and port fees, storage, and insurance. One entry for December 5, 1812, notes the capture of the ship Olive Branch en route from Kiel, Germany, to Philadelphia, and dealing with insurance to cover its loss, possibly in relation to War of 1812 privateering. Another entry dated March 30, 1813, refers to proceeds from Madeira wine, sweet almonds, and ship materials "received by the Ship Swift, Howland master from Liverpool which were taken up at sea, from the wreck of the Spanish Brig General Ballesteros from Madeira."

One color printed illustration of a woman and child seated before a birdcage was clipped and pasted in the volume, and another illustration of women was pasted in and later partially removed.

The Clements Library's collection of individual friendship and autograph albums (the ones that are not part of larger bodies of family papers) dates primarily from the second half of the 19th century. The creators of these albums sought out friends, family, schoolmates, public persons, and others to write signatures, sentiments, poetry, extracts from books and serials, personal sentiments, and more. Contributions often emphasize ties of friendship, exhortations to seek love, happiness, or Christian religious salvation. Most of the volumes in this collection were compiled in the Northeast United States and areas in the Midwest, with urban and rural areas represented. The greater number of the albums were kept by young women and the bulk of the signers were also female. Contributors occasionally illustrated pages with calligraphic designs, trompe l'oeil visiting cards, animals, flowers, and themes that had particular significance to their relationship with the keeper of the album. The volumes in this collection are largely decorative blank books adorned with tooled covers, sometimes containing interspersed engravings of religious, literary, historical, and landscape themes. Some include pasted-in photographs, die-cuts, or stickers.

The Clements Library's collection of individual friendship and autograph albums (the ones that are not part of larger bodies of family papers) dates primarily from the second half of the 19th century. The creators of these albums sought out friends, family, schoolmates, public persons, and others to write signatures, sentiments, poetry, extracts from books and serials, personal sentiments, and more. Contributions often emphasize ties of friendship, exhortations to seek love, happiness, or Christian religious salvation. Most of the volumes in this collection were compiled in the Northeast United States and areas in the Midwest, with urban and rural areas represented. The greater number of the albums were kept by young women and the bulk of the signers were also female. At least one volume was kept by an African American man, Lewis G. Mosebay. Contributors occasionally illustrated pages with calligraphic designs, trompe l'oeil visiting cards, animals, flowers, and themes that had particular significance to their relationship with the keeper of the album. The volumes in this collection are largely decorative blank books adorned with tooled covers, sometimes containing interspersed engravings of religious, literary, historical, and landscape themes. Some include pasted-in photographs, die-cuts, or stickers.

This combination sketchbook and scrapbook belonged to J. F. Beyer, an immigrant from Germany who moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, sometime in the 19th century. The volume contains pencil sketches, pasted-in newspaper and other types of clippings, autographs and friendship-album-like entries in German (Kurrentschrift), French, and English.

This combination sketchbook and scrapbook belonged to J. F. Beyer, an immigrant from Germany who moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, sometime in the 19th century. The volume contains pencil sketches, pasted-in newspaper and other types of clippings, autographs and friendship-album like entries in German (Kurrentschrift), French, and English.

The newspaper clippings appear to be mostly from Worcester, Massachusetts, and contain a variety of topics ranging from social events to poetry, local news, and more. A clipping dated December 18, 1882, celebrates the Turn Verein Society's new hall, and another undated clipping describes a hot air balloon basket being woven by J. F. Byer for an upcoming marriage.

Much of the artwork within the volume is signed, and many signatures also feature the word "Basel." Of the two Stevengraph woven pieces, one is of the Pope (dated 1846) and one features a woman with the name "Halle.Hoffmann.Basel" at the bottom. Many of the sketches are of houses with trees or flowers nearby, and some are more pastoral in nature.

This combination sketchbook and scrapbook belonged to J. F. Beyer, an immigrant from Germany who moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, sometime in the 19th century. The volume contains pencil sketches, pasted-in newspaper and other types of clippings, autographs and friendship-album-like entries in German (Kurrentschrift), French, and English.

This combination sketchbook and scrapbook belonged to J. F. Beyer, an immigrant from Germany who moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, sometime in the 19th century. The volume contains pencil sketches, pasted-in newspaper and other types of clippings, autographs and friendship-album like entries in German (Kurrentschrift), French, and English.

The newspaper clippings appear to be mostly from Worcester, Massachusetts, and contain a variety of topics ranging from social events to poetry, local news, and more. A clipping dated December 18, 1882, celebrates the Turn Verein Society's new hall, and another undated clipping describes a hot air balloon basket being woven by J. F. Byer for an upcoming marriage.

Much of the artwork within the volume is signed, and many signatures also feature the word "Basel." Of the two Stevengraph woven pieces, one is of the Pope (dated 1846) and one features a woman with the name "Halle.Hoffmann.Basel" at the bottom. Many of the sketches are of houses with trees or flowers nearby, and some are more pastoral in nature.

Eliza O. Perkins Burke's letters and papers document the life of a military officer's wife before and during the Civil War, and her friendships with fellow military wives.

Most of these letters are addressed to Eliza Perkins Burke, excepting a handful written to Mary, an invitation to Capt. Perkins to play billiards, and a certificate of merit presented to Edward while he was at St. Louis University. This is a scattered, spotty correspondence, but there are a couple cohering elements. Many of the women writing to Eliza were also married to military men. They had become friends on Sullivan's Island, while their husbands, many of whom were in the 3rd Artillery, were stationed at Fort Moultrie in the 1830s and early 1840s. The Civil War is another theme around which several of these letters cluster, although only one letter is from an actual soldier. The other coherent grouping is a series of six letters from Rosalie Smith, who was trying to obtain a divorce and chafing under the necessity of depending on her sister's husband for financial support.

The letters from fellow military wives show how close the women had become while together on the island, and there is a sense, especially during and after the Civil War, that these friendships were doubly valuable because they reminded the women of better times. Many of the wives did not see each other again after leaving Fort Moultrie, or only enjoyed infrequent visits. Although they only wrote to each other occasionally, they expressed great nostalgia for the time shared on Sullivan's Island. Often a milestone -- birth, death, or wedding -- prompted the letter, and the author often described her children's progress.

Judith Chiffelle, who had probably been on Sullivan's Island with her brother Thomas, was an anomaly. While the rest of the women were married to military men, Judith was single. She taught school in Baltimore and was raising her dead sister's children while their father ran his business in St. Louis. She wrote, "this I know will astonish you. I like to be an independent old maid, I will never marry. I have taken an oath to live single for my dear childrens' sake" (1854 December 17). Two years later her tone is less triumphant: "what a change a few years make in our life -- I struggling along trying to make a living hard work & keeping school " (1857 February 2). She admits that she would "long ago have laid down this weary head" had it not been for the children.

The Civil War era letters include one from Caroline Carson, a southern woman who suffered multiple hardships. Her husband died, "the plantation was sold according to his directions," and then her father's house, where she had stored her possessions, was burned: "Everything I had in the world was burnt up -- Books and pictures, china, glass linen all my little effects which I valued, and hoped someday to get around me again" (1862 February 4). "I hope in this horrid war no thing of the kind will happen to you," she continued. Another letter, from a northern lady, shows the less direct effect the war had on women who were not in the midst of the fighting. Rather than wondering where to live, Annie Eustace pondered what to wear: "in this time of our country's great troubles, we should think of something else, beside dress and party giving . . . I spend very little time and thought about fine dress, and making a show; I have lost all taste for such things (1862 May 6). There is also one letter from Eliza's soldiering nephew David P. Hancock while he was at Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York, recovering from a wound and anxious to get back to the field (1862 May 12).

The other clutch of letters is certainly the most intriguing one. Rosalie Smith was living, along with her mother, at her sister Ann Eustace's house in Dixon, Illinois. Rosalie bridled at having to depend on Judge Eustace, whose wealth had been severely reduced by the depression of 1857, but she saw no alternative until her brother Joe returned from Mexico with funds. In response to Eliza's suggestion that she get married, Rosalie wrote, rather obliquely, "this would be a long story and probably uninteresting on paper, but should I ever see you, I will give you some of my reasons for remaining in 'meditation free'" (1859 November 30). By the next year, Rosalie's reasons for resisting her reliance on her brother-in-law had increased: "Judge Eustace's relatives have always annoyed me by reports of our entire dependence on him, making things at times, very disagreeable to all" (1860 October 27). This letter also alludes to a Mr. Sheridan, who was apparently Rosalie's husband, whom she now wished to divorce. She was worried that he would "use every effort to annoy, and keep me bound; money only, will be the great lever by which it can be accomplished." She moved to Chicago with her sister's family, and she happily discovered that "a residence of two years, will grant me a divorce, provided Sheridan does not make application to live with or support me; so on this account too, I am anxious to keep quiet, that he may not know where I am, to molest me" (1860 December 3).

This volume contains 12 pages of accounts for the rental of oxen, labor, textiles, and tobacco, 1847-1851; 11 pages of diary entries by Minna R. Harris of Gilford, New Hampshire, November 13, 1880-May 19, [1881?]; 38 pages of pasted-in newspaper clippings and ephemeral items (poetry, visiting cards, rewards of merit, etc.); and miscellaneous notes respecting the Groveland Mills Card Room (Groveland, Mass.) and genealogy, 1884 and undated.

Minna R. Harris's diary entries are brief and they mention visits; attendance and school and church; the receipt of wood, meat, flour, beans, and other goods; Thanksgiving 1880; winter weather; and other subjects, 1880-[1881?]. The pasted-in ephemera includes colored fall leaves, an engraving titled "The Queen of May," a presentation bookmark, cards bearing scripture, rewards of merit for Minna R. Harris, cross-stitch examples, a CDV of an illustration titled "My First Sermon," calling cards including a photo-illustrated card for Mary I. Sommers, illustrated cards for five of the 10 commandments, and others. Printed advertisement cards represent Horsfords Acid Phosphate, F. W. Griswold Watchmaker and Jeweler, Thaxter's Sewing Machine Rooms, and Queen Anne Bouquet manufactured by C. E. Nichols.

This scrapbook includes clipped articles and images, original drawings, and written entries within the pages of a 1850s blankbook of receipts. Contextual clues indicate that individual(s) added to the volume at later dates, pasting clippings over used pages, and internal evidence suggests at least one compiler may have lived in Maine. Original drawings primarily center on themes of violent encounters between scouts and Native Americans, romantic entanglements, and conflict. Sometimes illustrated newspaper and magazine clippings are pasted throughout the volume, many relating to themes of marriage, love, women, family, and memory. Several pages were used to copy a portion of an undated letter, an essay, and a manuscript poem.

The individual(s) who created this scrapbook pasted items, drew scenes, and wrote entries within the pages of a 1850s blankbook of receipts, seemingly created for use by a Boston shipping or exportation company. Contextual clues indicate that persons added to the volume at later dates, pasting clippings over used pages, and internal evidence suggests at least one compiler may have lived in Maine.

Penmanship exercises and short notes are written on many of the pages, either where no additional content has been added or where clippings have been pasted on top. The names James Randall Reeves and Orren Cunningham appear on some of these pages, as well as place names of Bennington and Windsor, Maine, possibly indicating one of the early owners of the volume. The handwriting appears to match the text that accompanies the original illustrations.

Original drawings made using pencil, colored pencil, and ink can be found throughout the volume, sometimes with dates added, ranging from 1863 to 1869. Remnants of clippings that had previously been affixed to the page indicate that an owner of the volume must have pasted items into the scrapbook at a later date than the drawings were originally produced. Many of the images depict scenes of conflict or relate to two fictional characters, Hezekiah and Ezekiel. The two men appear to be scouts, and the images depict their encounters with villains, Native Americans, and a love interest, Flora. Violence, unrequited love, and emotional disappointment are central themes, and the concept of a "gas of hope" that spontaneously streams from Ezekial's head appears several times when the character experiences excitement or distress.

• Page 1: "Back Villains for your lives, says Peter, or you shall all die at the break of day by Cats." At the base of the page: "Indifference.". The illustration shows a man carrying a revolver in one hand while a woman holds his other arm. She extends an arm out behind her towards two men following them, one with a darker complexion and a machete raised over his head and the other pointing a musket at them.
• Page 3: "As the Villains again leaped against the door, an arm was thrust through the broken hand, and a voice cried out." The illustration is a nighttime scene with three men with a battering ram striking at a closed door of a house, where a man points a pistol out of an opening at them.
• Page 6: "Rescued from fire..." (the text is partially obscured by remnants of a newspaper clipping). The drawing depicts a firefighter descending a ladder from second story that is ablaze, holding a woman in his arm.
• Page 8: "...burly scout. A Sioux Chief captured" (the text is largely obscured by affixed clippings). The drawing shows a mustachioed man in military garb, a fur hat, and a cape who is holding a knife covered in blood. He is grabbing the arm of a Native American man who has dropped his knife and who is bleeding from a wound in his arm. Two ink drawings of insects (a beetle and a dragonfly) are pasted on the page.
• Page 10: "Perrilous adventure of Hezekiah the Scout, under cover of the darkness at the haunted schoolhouse." The image is a nighttime scene of a small building with a man climbing through a window. Another man runs behind him saying, "stop villain stop."
• Page 12: "The fate of Hezekiahs beaver is inevitable" and "Wonderful adventure of the Scout, Hezekiah cries out with a loud voice Ezekiel come here, help me bind these knaves." The drawing is of a bare-chested man in a green hat, holding two Native American men by the throat, one in each hand. A pencil marking indicates the year 1865.
• Page 16: "...The robber of the Rhine" (at least one additional word is partially obscured). The drawing depicts a balding man smoking a long pipe, wearing a musket on his back, and holding a bloody sword in front of him. A pencil marking indicates the year 1866.
• Page 18: "Death of Heavy [?]" and "Desperate adventure of Hezekiah, Slatt down in Kintuck..." The image is of a shirtless man (with a green hat) facing off with a Native American man, the former wielding his musket overhead and the latter his tomahawk each to strike the other. They stand over three dead or dying Native American men.
• Page 21: "Ezekial, & he knows who, on sunday eve, at the schoolhouse coming from meeting, by cats." The drawing depicts a man kneeling beside a seated woman who is holding a handkerchief or piece of cloth. One of his hands is on her shoulder, the other holds one of her hands. Another man lies face down in the corner.
• Page 24: "Weep stricken one your sorrows will have an end." Text at the bottom of the page is largely obscured by clippings, but "Ezekiel" and "Flora" are both visible. The drawing shows an upset man with mussed hair and arms akimbo, holding a handkerchief. One of the clippings over the man's head is "FIRST LOVE." A pencil marking indicates the year 1866.
• Page 26: "A streak of hope for Ezekial." The drawing shows a smiling man wearing a yellow hat that is releasing a stream of green gas, labelled "gas of hope."
• Page 27: "weep on str[i]cken one thy sorrows shall never end." The image depicts two men standing before a small grave with headstone reading "Dead Hope." Ezekiel, wearing a yellow hat from which "gas" spews, points down to the grave, saying, "What Have You Buried There Hezekiah." Hezekiah, barefoot, wearing a green hat and ragged pants, and holding a shovel, replies, "A. Dead Hope. I. Thought. She. Loved Me. But. She Did. Not Oh. Dear. What. Shall. I. Do Boo Hoo Boo Hoo." The illustration is marked in ink: "Drawn by Ezekiel himself in 1867."
• Page 30: "N.E. View of the royal oak of Shag Town, May 2d 1867." The drawing is a landscape featuring a large barren tree with a wooden plank/case/contraption and musket leaning against it. A sun smiles in the sky.
• Page 32: "View of Mud Pond, & Poccihog Hill, Sketched on the eastern rock, At half past three O'Clock." A landscape drawing shows a lake and a heavily wooded hillside. A smiling sun is in the sky and a person rows a boat on the lake.
• Page 36: Portrait of a bearded man in military uniform, with blue and gold epaulettes.
• Page 38: "A sorrowful meeting of the two scouts, Dialogue. Ezekial - 'Oh the letter, the letter, she loves me not.' Hezekiah - "Weep not Bro Scout, I pronounce it a forgery, by cats." The image is of two men wearing hats, muskets, and powder horns. One holds a slain animal in his hand, and the other cries while holding a letter and gas spews from his hat.
• Page 40: "Tallow plenty, or courting by candle-light, Stebbins telling Flora about his farm, out west." The drawing is an interior scene of a room with wallpaper, curtains, chairs, and a table. A man and woman embrace while holding candles, and additional candles are located on the table, chair, and floor.
• Page 44: Text at the top of the page is partially obscured but reads in part, "Bachelor . . . the famous scout," while additional text at the bottom reads "The inocent subject of my contempt by day, and my dreams by night." The drawing is a portrait of a man in a rumpled green hat, shirt, and suspenders, likely representing Hezekiah. A printed, pasted-on caption reads "THE GHOST OF OAK GROVE."
• Page 46: The letters "P.L.L." appear at the top of the page, and the note "Signed in the first degree, P.L.L." appears beside a highly stereotyped pencil portrait of an African American man.
• Page 48: Portrait of a bearded man.
• Page 50: Portrait of a man with moustache and goatee, with the text, "Art. Miller, California" written beside him.
• Page 52: "Poor old maniac, but once powerful scout, now dwindled away with sorrow for the lost Flora." The image shows Ezekial holding a wooden cane and a large "grief bag" on his back that has a vent spewing gas. On the bag is a printed, pasted-on caption reading "THE HAND OF FATE". He is wearing ragged pants and his hat spews green gas. Hezekiah wears his green hat and proffers something to Ezekial, saying, "Poor old fellow you must be hungry. Can I do anything for you, you seem to be weary of life. I guess I take you to a place of safety at once." Ezekial: "Answers with great vigor. I'm not hungry it is grief that gnaws like hunger at my very vitals. No never. You are the man that ruined me, if I was a smart man as I [...] I would kill you."
• Page 54: "Ezekial goes home with -- gets near home when the old scout jumps through the gateway inclosed in a sheet, See the consequences, of his rush act." The image shows a man draped in a white sheet standing in the doorway of a round stone structure. A well-dressed man and woman run apart from each other, leaving their hats on the ground. On the opposite page, several notes are written: "The identical hat worn by Hezekiah at the siege of Tattletown"; "The hat worn by Hezekiah at the destruction of Troy"; and "The sad effects of first love."
• Page 56: A man wearing a feathered hat and cape brandishes a sword while standing with one foot on the back of a slain man who has dropped his sword. He continues to fight with a man in a robe with a cross on it. A woman sits on the ground with a hand to her head. A printed, pasted-on caption reads "WHO''S TO WIN." A pencil marking indicates the year 1869.
• Page 58: "The burly scout, the stabbed scout, & Frankrifle, outscouted, by the bank scout at the old barn . . . gets valuable information concerning the conspiracy, by cats." The image shows four men in a hayloft, one, likely Ezekial, wears a yellow hat that is expelling gas. A printed, pasted-on caption reads "HUNTED DOWN."
• Page 60: "In dishabille," and at the bottom of the page: "Stebbins - 'Get out of my bed, Oh get out of my bed!" The drawing is of a woman wearing a shift and draped with a blanket reclining in a bed. A man in a nightshirt is seated on floor gesticulating at her.
• Page 62: "Who's Been here?" The drawing shows a woman looking out the window, while a man in a nightshirt, carrying the rest of his clothes, flees from the open door. A nicely dressed man with cane approaches him. A printed, pasted-on caption reads "TAUGHT BY EXPERIENCE."
• Page 64: "My idea of domestic bliss. or High life in the Lowlands." Text at the bottom of the page reads, "Stebbins about played out. 20 years hence." The drawing shows a man holding a hatchet in one hand, while wearing ragged clothing and a green hat spewing gas. A woman hits him over the head with a broom, while many small children are strewn about the floor and pull on the adults. A pencil marking indicates the year 1864.
• Page 66: A flying lizard/dragon with a shouting sun.
• Page 90: A checkerboard.

Newspaper and magazine clippings are pasted throughout the volume. While content varies, many relate to themes of marriage, love, women, family, and memory. Poetry is heavily represented. A fair number of the clippings include jokes, humor, and wordplay. Several are directions for household maintenance or preventing pests, and a number of others relate to scientific topics.

In addition to articles and written text, the compiler also pasted in clipped illustrations from newspapers and magazines. Several feature Union Army officers, most of whom appear to have a connection to New York State. Landscapes of New York City and the Amazon River are also included, as well as several satirical illustrations and animals.

A number of the printed images relate to women, including Tennie C. Claflin, Victoria C. Woodhull, and Elizabeth R. Tilton. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's image appears twice in the volume, including once where he is placed facing Elizabeth R. Tilton and a chain connecting the figures by the nose has been added in by pen (page 14). A short poem written in ink appears below it, reading:

Henry W. B., so buoyant with glee,

And Lizzie R. T., so innocent and free,

As happy as bees in the sweet apple trees

Raised a slight (?) breeze and made the whole world sneeze!

Several pages appear to have been used to copy a portion of an undated letter, which referenced a trip from Portland to Augusta, Maine, on the Maine Central Railroad, attitudes towards funerals, the teaching profession, arguments, and placebos (beginning page 57). Another passage appears to be an essay entitled, "to old Bachelors & maids" (pages 86-88) and a manuscript poem is written on the back inside cover that seems related to scouts and Native Americans.