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

Sarah Corenlia Firebaugh (1847-1930) of Rockbridge County, Virginia, maintained this friendship album between 1860 and 1866, spanning the Civil War and including passages penned by at least two Confederate soldiers. It principally contains poetry, notes of friendship, advice about upright living and selecting an appropriate marriage partner, and signatures of acquaintances from Rockbridge County, Middlebrook, and Arbor Hill, Virginia. Many use the term of endearment "Pet" or "Miss Pet" in addressing her, and several reference her girlhood or just entering her teenage years. An invitation to the wedding of Irene Bear, Sarah's daughter, and Thara Ostrander in 1900, with two newspaper notices relating to it, are laid into the volume.