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Clair Brubaker, possibly in or near Cripple Creek, Colorado, made these handwritten newspapers "devoted chiefly to society, fashions & personals" sometime around 1917. They consist of newspaper clippings, pen-and-ink drawings, and manuscript annotations and "editorials" (letters) written to Brubaker's sister.

Clair Brubaker, possibly in or near Cripple Creek, Colorado, made these handwritten newspapers "devoted chiefly to society, fashions & personals" sometime around 1917. They consist of newspaper clippings, pen-and-ink drawings, and manuscript annotations and "editorials" (letters) written to Brubaker's sister. Brubaker's editorials often include family news and commentary. Other content includes news on social balls and dances, the Cripple Creek Junior High School prom, minstrel performances, weather, social and local news, jokes, and school news. Some references to World War 1 are present.

Volume 1 is identified as the 2nd edition of "The Victor Gazette." Clair's letter to his sister includes the line, "What in the world did you do with your warts? I have two horrible ones and I would like to remove them." The Eastern Star Dance given by the Gold Nugget Chapter no. 30 features heavily in both handwritten notes and article clippings. Other news includes "Lyric Opera House Destroyed by Fire," with an accompanying drawing of two dancers, implying it was the heat of their feet while dancing that caused the blaze. One example of a joke is, "Mary (four) who had never seen a cat before found one purring by her grandmother's range. 'Grandma,' she cried, 'come here quick! It's boiling!'"

Volume 2, identified as the 3rd edition of the "Gazette," includes more about the class of 1917 and their social debuts. An article titled "Pretty Girls in Stunning Gowns was feature of Junior High School Prom [at Cripple Creek]" includes brief summaries of the gowns that some girls wore. An editorial column on page five was compiled by "editor-in-chief Shakespearibus" [presumably Clair]. Page nine includes a small clipping with the summary, "The Cripple Creek Woman's Club held its annual election of officers somewhere in the city sometime last week. If you want to know just where, and when and who was elected ask 'em, we're not giving away any of their secrets." Volume two also features an advertisements section.

Volume 3, the 5th edition of the "Gazette," is identified as "The Gossip Number" because of an apparent lack of news and is described by Clair as the dullest paper yet. This volume contains more newspaper clippings, such as "'Moonshiners' Outfit Found in the Hills Near Victor," "Presbyterians Vote to Forbid Women Preachers," and "Two Girl Students Tie for Honors at Victor High School." Jokes include, "'Are you in pain, my little man?' asked the kind old gentleman. 'No,' answered the boy; 'the pain's in me.'"

Joe Sanford of Stockton, California, summarized his weekend activities for the year 1949 in this typed diary. He traveled to various places in northern California, took camping trips with friends, participated in outdoor activities, and attended dances and plays. Some entries reflect racial tensions in Stockton.

Joe Sanford of Stockton, California, summarized his weekend activities for the year 1949 in this typed diary (134 pages). The diary's frontispiece is a poem by Nick Kenny entitled "Youth."

Though he occasionally mentioned his schoolwork and grades, Sanford wrote most frequently about his social life and leisure activities, almost all of which involved his friend Glenn. They and other friends went camping, attended theatrical performances (often at the College of the Pacific) and dances, and participated in outdoor activities throughout the year. Sanford traveled around northern California, writing about trips with friends and family to Mount Diablo (April 1949), Yosemite National Park (June 1949), Santa Cruz (July 1949), and the "Old Hearst Ranch" (August 1949). He played saxophone in the school marching band and briefly participated in the Sea Scouts during the summer. Some entries refer directly or indirectly to Mexican and African-American residents of Stockton, including Sanford's attempts to communicate with persons who "spoke Mexican" and the presence of African Americans at a December school dance. Some clipped images of locations that Sanford visited and unidentified individuals participating in fishing and similar outdoor activities are pasted into the volume. Sanford's diary also contains pencil sketches of a man painting on a ladder, a birthday cake, and other subjects. A program from a school talent show is also pasted in.

Marie Louise's journal documents the few days her family spent in southern California and the automobile trip home along the Santa Fe Trail, through St. Louis, and on to Richmond, Kentucky in 1915. The trip was publicized by the Ford Motor Company.

Marie Louise's journal documents the few days her family spent in southern California and the automobile trip home along the Santa Fe Trail, through St. Louis, and on to Richmond, Kentucky. There are two later entries detailing two dances she hosted. Most of the daily entries are written in a staccato style that rarely gets beyond a laundry list of the day's activities. Still, a certain sense of an irrepressible teenage girl, who described eating while driving as "flying lunch," and had a penchant for olives, and a burning need for ice cream sundaes, peeks through. At the back of the volume she pasted in ephemeral items from the trip, including an advertisement for "The Clansman," which she saw at the Empress Theatre in San Diego, permission to visit a gold mine, and a sunflower. There are also several small newspaper clippings, mostly concerning the family's trip.

The Kelloggs stopped to see the sights along their route, including the gold mine, cañons, and the original twenty mule team wagon that ran into Death Valley. Marie Louise rarely did more than record action. A typical account reads, "Went to the Petrified Forest. Picked up some pieces of the wood," but she did occasionally notice and note the scenery: "At one of the turns sat an Indian woman. It was one of the most picturesque scenes I ever saw. the winding road, an adobe village and the sunshine down to the left and the black clouds, sharp curves and mountains up to the right" (pp.26, 32).

The tourists saw Mojave, Hopi, Navajo, and Pueblo Indians enroute, and bought beads from the Indians in the Mojave desert, and rugs and pottery from the Navajo. Marie Louise snapped photos all along the way. The Kelloggs preferred to stay at "Harvey Houses," as the many establishments along the way owned and run by Fred Harvey were called. The car behaved fairly well, meaning there were only a couple flat tires on the way home, and a few instances of engine trouble. Twice Marie Louise and her mama had to get out and push the car out of mud holes.

The Kelloggs stayed in Santa Fe for a few days, where they were shown the sights by a "perfectly lovely" librarian named Mrs. Wilson (p.34). The family also spent several days in St. Louis, detained on account of the severe rains. Marie Louise and her mama occupied themselves with vaudeville shows (one featured a "Japanese primadonna"), movies, malted milks, and clothes shopping (p.58). At one shop, the retailer was "looking up Daddy's credit in some listing book and so we looked up all the Richmond people and others. I looked up several people in Versailles of course and found that flowers must sell pretty well as they give the seller good credit" (p.54).

After they crossed the Missouri, Marie Louise wrote that they were "Back in hot biscuit country anyway," and she began to anticipate getting home (p.50). She hoped their arrival would get all sorts of attention. "Really when I get home if every time we stop anywhere every body around doesn't run out to look at us and the car, I shall feel very bad about it" (p.52). She got her wish when they pulled into Louisville: "Mr. Banks, head of the Ford Motor Company in Kentucky, had a regular reception, reporters, a photographer and all the clerks. Trying to get our picture in the Sunday paper! Heavens, what a excitement for Richmond if they do succeed!" (p.63). They did succeed, and the clipping is pasted in the journal.

Once home in Richmond, Marie Louise quickly caught up with her best friend Martha, and planned a dance for "about a dozen couples of her young friends," as the newspaper so gratifyingly reported. She weighed herself at the store while getting some cakes for the party, and noted "151. -- caused by sundaes, malted milk and Harvey Houses I suppose" (p.68). Marie Louise expressed her hopes for a boyfriend, and after describing three boys, she longingly admitted to herself, "I could easily lose my heart to any of those three if I only had half a chance" (p.71). In the next, and last entry, Marie Louise, now back at Margaret College, wrote about another dance, her "first real Versailles german" (p.74). She had the satisfaction of reporting that her escort, Grover, was a "wonderful dancer," and declaring, "my old flame absolutely disgusted me. Didn't even like him."