Search

The Ohio Bookseller's diary chronicles the experiences of a travelling book salesman in southwestern Ohio during the early months of 1869. He also recorded accounts, poetry, and quotations throughout the year.

The Ohio Bookseller's diary chronicles the experiences of a travelling salesman in southwestern Ohio during the early months of 1869; he also recorded accounts, poetry, and quotations throughout the year. The author consistently wrote brief daily entries between January 1 and March 8, 1869, chiefly noting his efforts to make sales, often with little success. The diarist faithfully recorded the names of acquaintances with whom he stayed, and mentioned seeing several old college friends during his time in Yellow Springs. Daily entries ended on March 8, 1869, though the author occasionally added accounts, often related to corn, as well as poetry and quotations. On one date, he drew a a music staff, labeled with note names, and recorded facts about the Bible and about the death of George Washington.

The Oklahoma Homesteader's photograph album contains pictures of ranch or homestead buildings, cowboys, and Native Americans in an unidentified prairie region in the late 19th century. Some of the Native Americans posed with guns and white soldiers, and one group wore military uniforms. Two items are photographs of watercolor paintings.

The Oklahoma Homesteader's photograph album (36cm x 29cm) contains 49 prints showing pictures of buildings, scenery, cowboys, women, Native Americans, and watercolor paintings. Sixteen images are exterior views of a ranch home and outbuildings in a flat, grassy area with few trees. Two men in wide-brimmed hats are sometimes visible, including one driving a two-wheel horse-drawn carriage. Nine photographs are interior views of the residence showing a wallpapered living room or office, a paneled bedroom, dining area, and kitchen.

Of particular note are the interior views that show hats, bridles, lassos, and rifles mounted on the walls in combination with full bookshelves, framed art and photographs, and decoratively arranged wheat stalks. A large framed print or painting of a cow is featured over the mantelpiece along with small cabinet photographs, feathers, and artifacts; the beds are covered with Native American blankets and carefully arranged newspapers; books, papers, and a book-press are visible. Also of note are views of the rustic kitchen with coffee advertising signs and genre prints displayed. One view shows a dinner table set for seven, while another shows a bearded man cooking over an iron woodstove. Two pictures show a pair of women posed outside of the house with a dog. Two images are exterior views of a property with a larger wood frame house that appears to have been recently constructed.

A group of 14 pictures depicts cowboys roping cattle, performing farm work, pitching horseshoes, and relaxing alone or in groups. One photograph shows a group seated on a blanket, playing cards with guns drawn.

The album has six photographs featuring groups of Native Americans; a band of Native American men brandishing rifles appear posed with a white soldier in a uniform jacket; a mixed-gender group of Native Americans includes several men in military uniforms, women and children; a group of women and children in front of a tipi; a group of women and children with a child's wagon; three Native American men in military uniforms; and a large group with uniformed men on horseback, women, and children, taken at distance with tipis in the background. The final two pages have photographs of watercolor paintings of prairie scenes featuring small buildings. The album has a brown leather binding with a moire-patterned blue cloth cover, and a spine label "0013" from a previous unknown owner.

A wall calendar appearing in an interior view indicates June 2 falling on a Sunday, which occurred in 1889 and 1895.

The Olean (N.Y.) cabinet card and carte de visite album contains 3 cabinet cards from ca. 1880s and 12 cartes de visite from ca. 1860s. The album likely dates to ca. 1880s.

The Olean (N.Y.) cabinet card and carte de visite album contains 3 cabinet cards of women from ca. 1880s and 12 cartes de visite mostly of men, women, and children from ca. 1860s. The album likely dates to ca. 1880s. An inscription on the interior front cover reads "Merry Christmas, Harrington School, Dec. 25, 1903, Daisy May Spencer, Teacher," and does not appear to be related to the material within.

The images take place in a formal studio setting from photographers located in Olean (New York), Rock Island and Chicago (Illinois), Titusville (Pennsylvania), San Francisco (California), and Nashua (New Hampshire). Some photos include handwritten names on the bottom front of the mounts. One photograph of a structure is identified by a handwritten inscription as "Olean Baptist Church."

The album is 19.5 x 25 cm with decorative green celluloid covers.

This volume contains financial accounts related to the sale of goods in the 1830s and to civil court cases heard in the 1870s.

This volume contains financial accounts related to the sale of goods in the 1830s and to civil court cases heard in the 1870s.

The first section of the volume contains an anonymous individual's accounts regarding the sale of various goods, including foodstuffs, household supplies, and tobacco, between 1831 and 1852; most entries are dated 1831-1833. These records are accompanied by notes about planting, a description of a flood, and a brief poem composed mostly of three-word lines (p. 81a).

The second section of the volume consists primarily of notes regarding proceedings and judgments in civil court cases in Berrien County, Michigan, between 1871 and 1873. These notes often include the names of involved parties and details about hearings. Oliver P. Miller, a justice of the peace from Lake Township, is frequently mentioned.

• George Washburn vs. Darwin Wrathman
• Samuel McLellan vs. Darwin Wrathman
• George Ennis vs. George Boyce
• Jacob Raas vs. Warren Nelson
• George Neidlinger vs. William Ushaw and Phillip Meyer
• Andrew Johnson vs. L. Carpenter
• People of the State of Michigan vs. Charles Sterling
• James Lewis vs. John Stiles
• George Neidlinger vs. W. H. H. Long

Other entries in this section of the journal include a "Form of Security for costs by nonresident," illustrated with the case of John Doe vs. John Jones; a "Form of Confession of Judgment;" the poem "The Vacant Chair;" and a song entitled "O come with me in my little canoe" [sic].

• Order for Solomon Neidlinger to surrender his residence and notes on a dispute between Joseph Beans and Melissa B[eans]
• Order for George Ennis to surrender his residence
• A poem, "Lines dedicated to H and M"
• Four pages from the Elson Grammar School Reader Book One
• A recipe for "Washing Fluid"
• A newspaper clipping featuring the following "Lost and Found Poems:"
  • "Unity"
  • "Hang Up the Baby's Stocking"
  • "Annabel Lee"
  • "I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard"
  • "Kingdom Coming"
  • "The Boat Song"
  • "The Discovery of America"
• A cure for whooping cough
• A newspaper clipping featuring "Poetry Written at my Mother's Grave"

The Ontario carte-de-visite album contains formal portrait photographs of men, women, and children, including members of the compiler's family. Many of the photographs were taken in southern Ontario cities such as Brantford, Simcoe, and Woodstock.

The Ontario carte-de-visite album (15cm x 11cm) contains 33 carte-de-visite and 9 tintype photographs of numerous men, women, and children, some of whom are identified as members of the compiler's family. The formal studio portraits were taken by photographers in cities such as Brantford, Simcoe, and Woodstock, Ontario, in the mid- to late 1860s. Some family members are identified by their relationship to the owner, including a sibling, a pair of grandparents, and "Grandmother Merrill." Some subjects were photographed in pairs, and some held objects such as hats. A few of the cartes-de-visite and tintypes have hand coloring, and two cartes-de-visite have colored background designs printed directly onto the cards. A gold design is stamped on a raised portion of the album's front and back covers, which are made of pebbled brown leather.

This deck log for the sloop of war Ontario (1,004 pages), commander Thomas Holdup Stevens, contains daily information on the weather, ship location, movement and response to the weather, crew activities, sicknesses, and out-of-the-ordinary events, while serving in the Mediterranean Squadron. Also recorded in the volume are 28 port stops, the most frequent at Mahon and Gibraltar, for ship repairs, delivery of specie and other items, transport of diplomats, demonstrations of amity, and other purposes.

This oversize deck log for the sloop of war Ontario (1,004 pages) bears a protective canvas cover, on which is written the title "Journal of the U. S. S. Ontario Thos Holdup Stevens Esqre Commander." It contains daily entries for almost two years of a voyage with the Mediterranean Squadron, with notes on 28 port stops--most frequently Mahon and Gibraltar, but also including Algiers, Tunis, Barcelona, Smyrna, and others. The stops were typically for ship repairs, delivery of specie and other items, transportation of diplomats, demonstrations of amity, and other purposes.

The regular entries were kept by officers of the watch, who maintained detailed reports of the day's weather and sail changes; shipboard routines, such as renewing the water supply, sighting passing ships, and muster and exercising the crew; and shipboard conditions, such as the number of men sick, water remaining on board, and the kind of meat on the day's menu. Considerable attention was given to activities involving the repair and upkeep of the ship, and the restocking of supplies.

In 1899 an unidentified artist created 21 pages of watercolor paintings of different North American birds accompanied by manuscript descriptions detailing the birds' habitat, size, coloration, distinctions between males and females, and the scale used to render the image. An additional two pages consist of a numbered diagram of a bird identifying various physiological components, with a close-up view of the beak.

In 1899 an unidentified artist created 21 pages of watercolor paintings of different North American birds accompanied by manuscript descriptions detailing the birds' habitat, size, coloration, distinctions between males and females, and the scale used to render the image. An additional two pages consist of a numbered diagram of a bird identifying various physiological components, with a close-up view of the beak.

• Horned Grebe
• Partridges
• Screech Owls
• Bee or King Birds
• Red Bird or Bobolink
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Baltimore Oriole or Hang-Nest
• Crimson or Purple Finch
• Goldfinch or Salad Bird
• Chipping Sparrow
• Song Sparrow
• Vesper Sparrow
• Yellow Winged Sparrow
• English Sparrow
• Snow Bird
• Cardinal Bird
• Rose Breasted Grosbeak
• Indigo Bunting
• Scarlet Tanager
• Cedar Bird
• American Redstart
• Common Blue Bird
• Maryland Yellow Warbler
• Blue Jay

The pages were previously bound into a volume and most contain page numbers in the top left corner, revealing the loss of a number of pages.

The Pageant of the Dunes photograph album contains 92 photographs including snapshots of scenery in and around the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois, as well as images of the “Pageant of the Dunes” event held in Port Chester, Indiana, in 1917.

The Pageant of the Dunes photograph album contains 92 photographs including snapshots of scenery in and around the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois, as well as images of the “Pageant of the Dunes” event held in Port Chester, Indiana, in 1917.

The album (19 x 29 cm) is string-bound and has black paper covers and pages. Contents begin with images of Chicago scenery including views of Navy Pier, Edgebrook, and the Chicago River while the following section features several images showing statues of World War I soldiers in the display window of Marshall Field's department store. Photographs in the section captioned “Pageant of the Dunes, 1917” consist of images of crowds as well as actors and actresses, including some dressed as Native Americans. Three photographs dated to 1918 are also present.

This General Store ledger documents the sale of a wide variety of goods in Page County, Virginia, between 1866 and 1869. The volume contains entries for various types of cloth (calico, "Ken Jeans" [Kentucky jean], cottons, gingham, casinett, etc.), blank books, hardware (screws, nails, locks, etc.), tobacco, rye, rice, eggs, sugar, bacon, castor oil, fish oil, sugar, watches, saltpeter, butter, blinds, soaps, coffee, gloves, shoes, shoe strings, pants, socks, cravats, handkerchiefs, pant and coat patterns, candles, tallow, rosin, turpentine, spectacles, thimbles, and much more. The proprietor was likely Emanuel Grove or another member of the Grove family.

This General Store ledger documents the sale of a wide variety of goods in Page County, Virginia, between 1866 and 1869. The volume contains entries for various types of cloth (calico, "Ken Jeans" [Kentucky jean], cottons, gingham, casinett, etc.), blank books, hardware (screws, nails, locks, etc.), tobacco, rye, rice, eggs, sugar, bacon, castor oil, fish oil, sugar, watches, saltpeter, butter, blinds, soaps, coffee, gloves, shoes, shoe strings, pants, socks, cravats, handkerchiefs, pant and coat patterns, candles, tallow, rosin, turpentine, spectacles, thimbles, and much more. The proprietor was likely Emanuel Grove or another member of the Grove family.

The Pan-American Expo and Travel photograph album (17 x 19 cm) has 60 amateur gelatin silver prints consisting of architectural photographs taken at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y, as well as photographs of Niagara Falls, General Grant’s Tomb, and caged animals at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. The album also includes images of the Old Fort in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, and shipbuilding in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. There are also images of the U.S. Navy Battleships U.S.S. Kearsarge, Indiana, and Texas.

The Pan-American Expo and Travel photograph album (17 x 19 cm) has 60 amateur gelatin silver prints, 18 of which are architectural photographs taken at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. It also includes 4 photographs of what appears to be a demonstration of Coast Guard lifesaving procedures. Other views show a War of 1812 cannon on display, Niagara Falls, General Grant’s Tomb, and caged animals at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. The album also documents a trip to Fort Independence in Boston, as well as to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, including images of the Old Fort in Annapolis, N.S., and shipbuilding in Yarmouth, N.S. There are also images of the U.S. Navy Battleships U.S.S. Kearsarge, Indiana, Texas. Also of note are a group of 4 photographs of the St. John's River and harbor in New Brunswick accompanied by a newspaper clipping describing the tidal movements in the harbor. All of the photographs in the album are accompanied by handwritten captions.

The album has a brown cover inscribed with the title "Photographs," and is housed in a light blue box.