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This partially printed, annual daily diary was kept by 12-13 year old Alice L. Gardner of Warren, Rhode Island, over the course of 1886. Her brief entries reflect on social matters, local news, church activities, games, school, dance, theater, and musical lessons.

Alice L. Gardner noted her family's travels to Providence, Boston, and other nearby locales, for social visits, shopping, and other matters. She remarked on her and her family's attendance of theatre and musical performances. While at times she only notes going to "the Opera," she occasionally names the performances. Some of the shows she mentioned include The Mikado (January 2), Francesca da Rimini (January 16), Victor, the Blue-Stocking (May 8), The Old Homestead (October 9), The Merry Wives of Windsor (October 27), and The Jilt (December 18).

Alice Gardner's entries relating to her schooling pertain to exercises, exams, absences of teachers and classmates, and more. At times she names the texts assigned to her for school work or pieces she was to learn for musical lessons. She noted playing piano, taking up banjo lessons, dancing, and singing. She also frequently mentioned playing games with family friends, including whist, backgammon, casino, among others.

The diary also includes brief mentions of notable events, such as the marriage of Grover Cleveland (June 2) and the Charleston earthquake (September 22). At least two entries reflect racial attitudes. Her entry for October 22nd described a party which included racial and ethnic costumes. Alice also noted when Le Bing, a Chinese man, opened a laundry (November 9).

The section for "Cash Accounts" at the back of the diary includes several entries, principally for October to December for purchases of candy, food, and ribbon. Several addresses are also included at the back of the volume, as well as one entry in the section to record letters received and answered.

Four disbound notebook pages are housed in the pocket at the back of the volume. They include a musical notation, mathematical notes, a tongue-twister about snuff, a list of birthdays, quotations and proverbs, and drawings. Drawings represent a six-pointed star, a small pig and donkey, clocks and wall hangings, and a "Newport Girl," "Crescent Park Girl," and "Boston Girl" wearing different styles of dress.

A clipping of hair bound in a pink ribbon and a sample of grass are laid in the volume.

An unnamed parent or caregiver kept notes about children in a partially used Teachers' Institute Note Book, 1886. The volume was printed in Chicago and Maquoketa, Iowa, by Donohue & Henneberry and W. M. Welch, respectively, and includes advertisements on the inside covers for educational texts and forms. Two pages of manuscript notes define musical intervals. An additional nine pages of text sporadically document the words and actions of at least two children, Harry and Inez, between the ages of 1.5 and 5.5 years old. The writer notes the ages at which children were singing, the type of art they created, the humorous questions, observations, and comments they made, and religious thoughts they vocalized.

An unnamed parent or caregiver kept notes about children in a partially used Teachers' Institute Note Book, 1886. The volume was printed in Chicago and Maquoketa, Iowa, by Donohue & Henneberry and W. M. Welch, respectively, and includes advertisements on the inside covers for educational texts and forms. Two pages of manuscript notes define musical intervals. An additional nine pages of text sporadically document the words and actions of at least two children, Harry and Inez, between the ages of 1.5 and 5.5 years old. The writer notes the ages at which children were singing, the type of art they created, the humorous questions, observations, and comments they made, and religious thoughts they vocalized.

The childhood observations about death, spirits, and God reflect a religious upbringing and household, including one entry about how Harry "was drawing a picture of a deathbed scene where angels were coming to carry the man's spirit to God in accordance with what he had been told on the subject. He said 'Mama I guess one angel holds the man's mouth open while the other takes his spirit out of him.' " Comments about dogs, toys, and imaginative games speak to youthful entertainment and play, and others are more suggestive about the conditions in the children's environment that caught their attention. Questions like "what color is the moon on the other side," or observations that a dead mouse "is kind of wilted isn't it," provide insights into what the children were seeing and wondering about.

One entry at the back of the volume reads, "J. D. McAuliff (Heals by rubbing) St. Louis, Mo."