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Collection

Arthur Lyon Cross Papers, 1897-1940

16 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Professor of English history at University of Michigan. Correspondence with European and American historians, publishing houses, editors of learned journals, members of his family, and friends; also manuscripts of books and articles, lecture notes, student records, business papers, personal account books, diaries, 1938-1940, with comments on world events, and miscellaneous papers; and photographs.

The Cross papers are divided into the following series: Correspondence; Miscellaneous and undated papers; Personal/Biographical; University of Michigan; Publications, articles, and related; Research and lecture materials, and Photographs.

Collection

Sarah and Edward Ogden travel diaries, 1886-1908

9 volumes

The Ogden collection consists of diaries written by Sarah and Edward Ogden detailing trips to places in Europe, Russia, the United States and Mexico from the years 1886 to 1908.

The Sarah and Edward Ogden diaries consist of seven diaries written by Sarah Ogden, one expense book kept by Edward Ogden, and one other diary, possibly written by Edward Ogden. The diaries span the years from 1886 to 1908.

A trip taken from 1886-1887 was to Europe, and the destinations were as follows: England (June 1886); Germany (July 1886); Austria and Switzerland (August 1886); France (September 1886); Spain (October 1886); France (the end of 1886, and early 1887); Italy (March 1887); Denmark (June 1887); St. Petersburg and Moscow (July and August, 1887); England (September and October, 1887); and then back to the United States. The trip taken from 1889-1890 was from New Jersey to Seattle, then south to Vera Cruz, Mexico, and back north again to New Jersey. The trip in 1891 was south to Florida. The final trip in 1908 was also to Europe -- Amsterdam, Coblenz, and Bologne.

Collection

George Owen Squier papers, 1883-1934

7 linear feet — 2 oversize folders

Major general in the U.S. Army, physicist, and inventor. Correspondence, personal account books, reports, military orders, student notebooks (U.S. Military Academy and Johns Hopkins University), notes and other material largely related to his scientific interests, particularly in telegraphy and trans-oceanic cables; also diaries kept while a West Point cadet, one of which contains a family history and autobiography; Ph.D. thesis in physics from Johns Hopkins University; and photographs.

The George Owen Squier papers include correspondence, personal account books, reports, military orders, student notebooks (U.S. Military Academy and Johns Hopkins University), notes and other material largely related to his scientific interests, particularly in telegraphy and trans-oceanic cables; diaries kept while a West Point cadet, one of which contains a family history and autobiography; Squier's Ph.D. thesis in physics from Johns Hopkins University; and photographs.

The Squier collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Inventions and Research; Military Career; Miscellaneous / Personal; and Education (West Point and Johns Hopkins).

Collection

Buttolph family collection, 1872-1924 (majority within 1872-1890)

3 volumes

The Buttolph family collection contains two diaries and an account book chronicling the experiences and expenses of Larnard D. and Florence W. Buttolph of Corfu, New York, in the late 1800s. Florence W. Buttolph's 1872 diary concerns her social life in rural New York, Larnard D. Buttolph's 1873 diary covers his experiences working in California, and an account book reflects Larnard's farm expenses between 1882 and 1890.

The Buttolph family collection contains two diaries and an account book chronicling the experiences and expenses of Larnard D. and Florence W. Buttolph of Corfu, New York, in the late 19th century. Florence's diary (80 pages), kept between March 10, 1872, and September 28, 1872, relates her social life and daily experiences, including visits to neighbors and attendance at school; she frequently helped her mother around the house, and knitted in her spare time.

The first 40 pages of Larnard’s diary contain addresses and a correspondence record, and the remainder of the volume is a daily diary kept between April 8, 1873, and January 15, 1874, reflecting his experiences traveling by train to California and working at a mill in the northern part of the state. The first few entries, dated in April, cover his transcontinental railroad trip, during which he wrote about his impressions of Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming. He reached California by the end of that month, and spent the remainder of the year working various jobs near Sacramento, including mill work and ranching. Though he made some money and was able to travel to San Francisco in December, he decided to return to New York in mid-January 1874.

The final item is Larnard's account book, covering farm expenses between 1882 and 1889, with a few 20th-century items laid in. The first few pages reflect the general state of his finances in 1882 and 1883, and more specific later accounts cover his transactions with local butchers, shearers, and laborers; some record purchases and others sales. Among the items laid in is a printed document for stockholders, entitled "The Pennsylvania Railroad System in 1923" (May 15, 1924).

Visual material includes an ink drawing of a bird and butterfly, as well as tintypes and other photographs of Buttolph family members and anonymous individuals.

Collection

Maria J. Gibbs Barnard diaries and Adams family collection, 1865-[1950s]

28 volumes

This collection contains 20 pre-printed daily diaries by Maria Jennings Barnard née Gibbs of East Wareham and Onset, Massachusetts, for the years 1865, 1866, 1867, 1869, 1872, 1873, 1876, 1880, 1881, 1914, and 1924-1932. Maria J. Gibbs' diaries pertain to home life (especially cooking, cleaning, sewing, and other housework). In the 1860s and 1870s, while in her 20s, she remarked on her work at cotton mills and sewing establishments in Plymouth and Middlesex Counties as well as her experiences living at various boarding houses. At the end of 1876, she married Nantucket sailor Benjamin A. Barnard and the diaries of 1880 and 1881 include content on household labor, child rearing, visits to other areas in the state, and loneliness from her husband's absences. Barnard wrote her later diaries, 1914 and 1924-1932, following the death of her husband in 1895, from Onset, Massachusetts, where she wrote about time with her daughter Nellie Barnard Robbins and grandson Lloyd Robbins, trips around Eastern Massachusetts, annual trips to Florida for the winter, cooking, cleaning, and visiting friends. The remainder of the collection is comprised of eight diaries, account books, address books, memoranda books, and wallets pertaining to the family of Maria Barnard's granddaughter Mildred Grace Robbins née Adams of Attleboro, Massachusetts, between 1913 and the 1950s.

This collection contains 20 pre-printed daily diaries by Maria Jennings Barnard née Gibbs of East Wareham and Onset, Massachusetts, for the years 1865, 1866, 1867, 1869, 1872, 1873, 1876, 1880, 1881, 1914, and 1924-1932. Maria J. Gibbs' diaries pertain to home life (especially cooking, cleaning, sewing, and other housework). In the 1860s and 1870s, while in her 20s, she remarked on her work at cotton mills and sewing establishments in Plymouth and Middlesex Counties as well as her experiences living at various boarding houses. Her 1872 diary includes a two-month trip to Chicago to visit relatives, with content on the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1871. Maria suffered from regular headaches and frequent nearly debilitating sicknesses. At the end of 1876, she married Nantucket sailor Benjamin A. Barnard and the diaries of 1880 and 1881 include content on household labor, child rearing, visits to other areas in the state, and loneliness from her husband's absences. Bernard wrote her later diaries, 1914 and 1924-1932, following the death of her husband in 1895, from Onset, Massachusetts, where she wrote about time with her daughter Nellie Barnard Robbins and grandson Lloyd Robbins, trips around Eastern Massachusetts, annual trips to Florida for the winter, cooking, cleaning, and visiting friends. When the 1932 diary concluded, Maria was 86 years old. The remainder of the collection is comprised of eight diaries, account books, address books, memoranda books, and wallets pertaining to the family of Maria Barnard's granddaughter Mildred Grace Robbins née Adams of Attleboro, Massachusetts, between 1913 and the 1950s.

Collection

Joseph K. and George C. Wing collection, 1863-1930 (majority within 1863-1864, 1872-1924)

1.25 linear feet

This collection is made up of correspondence, writings, a journal, a scrapbook, and published material related to George Clary Wing of Bloomfield, Ohio, and two account books kept his father, Joseph Knowles Wing, during his military service in the Civil War. George C. Wing's correspondence pertains mostly to his career in the United States government in the late 19th century, and his writings cover topics such as history, literature, and travel.

This collection is made up of correspondence, writings, a journal, a scrapbook, and published material related to George Clary Wing of Bloomfield, Ohio, and two account books kept by his father, Joseph Knowles Wing, during his military service in the Civil War.

The Correspondence series (32 items) consists of personal and professional correspondence related to George C. Wing. Most items are incoming letters that Wing received from acquaintances and politicians who discussed Wing's career in the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of State from 1872-1884. Some items are signed by prominent politicians, including George Henry Williams, Charles Devens, Benjamin Brewster, and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. The series also contains a small number of draft letters from Wing to various individuals, also concerning his career in Washington, D.C. George C. Wing received personal letters from his father, Joseph K. Wing, and one letter and one telegram from his brother, Francis J. Wing; both provided news from North Bloomfield, Ohio, and offered professional advice. The final item is a brief personal letter from "George" to "Julia" (July 23, 1923).

The Journal and Notebooks series contains 2 notebooks and 1 journal. George C. Wing kept two notebooks from 1872-1924 (280 pages) and 1884-1920 (150 pages, not all of which are used). These contain quotations, essays, and notes about many subjects, including lectures at Georgetown Law School, English-language literature, classical history and literature, American history, and scientific subjects. Wing also composed some poetry. The second volume includes some one-line journal entries about Wing's business trips and family news from 1884-1910. He laid newspaper clippings, loose essays, photographs, and notes into the volumes.

George C. Wing's journal includes 51 pages of daily entries describing the scenery during his railroad and steamship journey from Ohio to Valdez, Alaska, and back between June 5, 1901, and July 9, 1901. He mentioned his daily activities and sometimes noted the types of plants prevalent in different areas of the country. The later pages (around 15 pages) contain a drawing of "Jake," a sketch of the Alaska coastline along a glacier, additional trip notes, memoranda, a railroad ticket and steamship purser's ticket, and a photograph of a woman.

The Writings series consists of three items. George C. Wing compiled a group of manuscript writings and draft letters in a volume entitled "Brands- from the Burning!" from the mid-1880s to the mid-1910s. Included are stories, essays, translations, and poems about history, literature, and other topics. Wing's draft letters include an opinion piece about the country's relationship with Germany in 1915. The series also includes a manuscript draft of Wing's book, The Western Reserve Home and The Manuscript Letters of Ephraim Brown and Family, 1805-1845 (1915, later published as Early Years on the Western Reserve) and a group of correspondence and essays about a road in Bloomfield, Ohio, and a related property dispute, entitled "The Lane in Section Sixty, Bloomfield, Trumbull County, Ohio" (1925).

The Joseph K. Wing Account Books (320 total pages, fewer than half of which are used) contain financial records and supply lists related to Wing's service in the 16th Army Corps during the Civil War (1863-1864). Wing, a quartermaster, compiled records about purchases of horses, including the price of each animal; lists of supplies, including the number of items and occasional remarks about items' condition; lists of clothing items available, including remarks about whether each item was damaged or new; a list of forage vouchers cashed by Wing, including the name of the soldier who claimed each voucher; and lists of supplies held by various regiments. Notes regarding prison returns mention a few female prisoners. The volumes also contain notes about army transportation and food supplies.

The collection's Scrapbook (27 pages) primarily contains newspaper clippings about many different subjects, including articles and photographs pertaining to steamship travel to and around Alaska, particularly regarding the ships Dolphin and Bertha. Other clippings concern various members of the Wing family, such as George C. Wing and Francis J. Wing, and the history of Bloomfield, Ohio. Items laid into the back of the volume include printed Personal Instructions to the Diplomatic Agents of the United States in Foreign Countries (1874), George Wing's manuscript report about "Proceedings for the Extradition of Criminals (June 14, 1883), George Wing's drawing of "The Encyclopedant" (February 1895), and a menu for the Alaska Steamship Company vessel Dolphin (July 4, 1901).

Printed Items (4 items) include a copy of George C. Wing's book Early Years on the Western Reserve with Extracts from Letters of Ephraim Brown and Family, 1805-1845 (Cleveland, 1916), inscribed to his sister Elizabeth and to a niece, and a copy of Neighborhood: A Settlement Quarterly containing several articles about pottery (July 1930). George C. Wing also collected court briefs from his time with the United States Court of Claims (1879-1882), and received a United States Senate report about the relationship between Great Britain and the United States with regard to each country's naval presence on the Great Lakes between the War of 1812 (1892).

Collection

Williamson family collection, 1862-1918

0.5 linear feet

The Williamson family collection is made up of 9 bound volumes pertaining to Clara Gurley Williamson, her daughters Ruth and Mary, and other members of the Williamson family of New Brunswick, New Jersey. The items include diaries, financial records, a newspaper clipping scrapbook, and a photograph album.

The Williamson family collection is made up of 9 bound volumes pertaining to Clara Gurley Williamson, her daughters Ruth and Mary, and other members of the Williamson family.

The D. Abeel Williamson Diary, composed in a pre-printed pocket diary, contains David Abeel Williamson's daily entries about his life in New Brunswick, New Jersey, from January 1, 1862-May 25, 1862, and about his experiences with the 7th New York Militia Regiment from May 26, 1862-August 27, 1862. His early entries mainly record the weather and his social activities; he mentioned his admission to the bar in his entries of May 21, 1862, and May 22, 1862. A newspaper clipping about the surrender of Fort Donelson is pasted into the entries for February 16, 1862, and February 17, 1862. During his time in the army, Williamson noted the hot weather near Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, and mentioned other aspects of military service, such as guard duty, marching, and reviews. A commuter's ticket for the "New Jersey Rail Road" is laid into the volume's pocket.

The Hattie S. Williamson Memorandum Book contains financial records of collections that the Second Reformed Dutch Church Sunday School of New Brunswick, New Jersey, received from November 26, 1865-June 16, 1867. The amount of each donation is recorded next to the donor's name. Other records pertain to the Sunday school's accounts with the Novelty Rubber Company and the church's efforts to raise money for an organ.

The Clara Gurley Account Book, kept from July 9, [1875]-April 16, 1880, contains accounts for Gurley's purchases of items such as books, ribbon, fabrics, and buttons. A piece of fabric is pinned onto the book's final page.

The first Clara Gurley Williamson Diary, written in a pre-printed Excelsior volume, covers the year 1905. Williamson began writing in Dresden, Germany, where she had lived with her children since late 1903, and recounted her daily activities and news of acquaintances. In April, she and her children took an extended tour of Europe, including Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Holland, where Williamson remarked on visits to museums and other points of interest. The entries from August concern the family's return to the United States on the Holland-American Line steamer Ryndam and their first months back in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Indianapolis, Indiana. Williamson kept a record of letters written and received and acquaintances' addresses in the volume's memoranda section. She laid newspaper clippings, a letter, calling cards, small photographs, stamps, and other items in the volume. The final page of the diary contains a newspaper clipping about the Williamsons' return to the United States and intention to relocate to Indianapolis.

The Mary Williamson Diary recounts the author's travels through Europe from April 10, 1905-August 11, 1905. Williamson described her daily activities and sightseeing in cities such as Prague, Munich, Venice, Rome, and Paris, as she visited museums and places of historical importance with her mother and sister. The diary includes a list of books Williamson read from 1907-1908 and a list of addresses of European hotels.

The Ruth A. Williamson Diary pertains to the author's experiences and travels in England from June 7, 1909-September 3, 1909. She spent most of her time in London; some later entries mention travels around southern England and to Edinburgh, Scotland. Williamson most frequently wrote about sightseeing and visiting famous landmarks, but also commented on other activities, such as shopping. Ruth A. Williamson's calling card is laid into the volume.

The second Clara Gurley Williamson Diary, also in a pre-printed Excelsior volume, contains daily entries about Williamson's life in Indianapolis, Indiana, from January 1, 1918-April 2, 1918. Williamson commented on her social activities, her health, and news of her friends and family members, especially her children. She occasionally mentioned news of the war, such as the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (February 22, 1918). Financial records and instructions for knitting a "Kitchener sock" are written in the back of the volume. Items laid in include a calling card for Charles G. Williamson containing his military address, a cloth United States flag mounted on a small wooden dowel, and clippings about the deaths of Henry Janeway Hardenburgh and Douw D. Williamson. A postcard with a painting of Waikite Geyser in New Zealand, addressed to A. Parsons in London, England, is also laid into the diary.

The Scrapbook (1860s-1880s) is comprised of newspaper clippings about numerous topics, including biographies of William Gurley and biographical notices about other members of the Gurley family, such as Clara Gurley Williamson and Esther Gurley Cook. Some clippings feature prominent individuals such as Ulysses S. Grant, Charles Dickens, and Louisa May Alcott. Items report national news, news from Troy, New York, and stories about Emma Willard and the Troy Female Seminary. Additional topics include poetry, international travel, and stamp collecting.

A Photograph Album contains 42 carte-de-visite photographs, 2 lithographs, and 1 tintype print. Most of the photographs are studio portraits of men, women, and children, including many members of the Gurley family and related families. Most of the pictures are dated 1866-1880, though the album includes a 1902 photograph of Charles G. Williamson in a military uniform.

Collection

Nehemiah S. Hayden journal and account book, 1858

1 volume

This 93-page journal and account book chronicles a year in the life of Nehemiah S. Hayden, a sailor and shipbuilder from Essex, Connecticut, including voyages aboard the John H. Elliott to Antwerp, Belgium, and the clipper ship Frederick Gebhard to Savannah, Georgia. On 80 pages of journal entries, Hayden recounted the weather, shipboard tasks, and movement of other vessels, and offered brief glimpses of his personal life on and off ship. Five scattered pages of accounts entries detail Hayden's expenses for clothing, sundries, and services for 1858. Completing the volume is an anonymous 8-page work of prose (including the date January 15, 1858), telling the story of a young woman's heartbreak over the loss of her sailor love and his return to her after his rescue by an English ship. The front and back pastedowns bear sketches of a three-masted, square rigged ship (apparently the Frederick Gebhard) and a two-masted, gaff rigged vessel.

This 93-page journal and account book chronicles a year in the life of Nehemiah S. Hayden, a sailor and shipbuilder from Essex, Connecticut, including voyages aboard the John H. Elliott to Antwerp, Belgium, and the clipper ship Frederick Gebhard to Savannah, Georgia.

The journal portion (80 pages) dates from January 1 to December 6, 1858, and documents Hayden's life in Essex, Connecticut, onboard the sailing vessel John H. Elliott, and while docked in Antwerp, Belgium. Notations of daily weather, particularly the wind, are prominent throughout. While in Essex, Hayden noted visits with friends and family (including a young woman nicknamed "Chick"), mail sent and received, and church services attended. He went clamming, duck hunting, and sailing near home, and he committed himself to a yearlong temperance pledge. At sea, he chronicled daily tasks, encounters with other ships, and the logistics of sailing operations. While in port, he took walks with crewmembers, sent mail, and completed numerous painting and construction projects (including installation of passenger berths) on the ship. He went sightseeing in Brussels for a day. His ship set sail in July for a return voyage by way of Dover.

The December 1858 entries describe Hayden's time in Savannah, Georgia, while aboard the ship Frederick Gebhard (which he joined in October 1858). Several members of the crew (including several black men) took an excursion into town one day and went oyster gathering another. Before setting sail, the ship took on a number of men including "a large bear," who later got into a fight with "Turk."

Five scattered pages of accounts entries detail Hayden's expenses for clothing, sundries, and services for 1858. Completing the volume is an anonymous 8-page work of prose (including the date January 15, 1858), telling the story of a young woman's heartbreak over the loss of her sailor love and his return to her after his rescue by an English ship. The front and back pastedowns bear sketches of a three-masted, square rigged ship and a two-masted, gaff rigged vessel.

Collection

Achsa White Sprague diary and Lloyd N. Josselyn account book, 1855-1908

1 volume

Spiritualist medium and writer Achsa W. Sprague maintained this diary between 1855 and 1857 while touring on a lecture circuit around Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and New York. She recorded her daily experiences, travels, and work lecturing and conducting medium trances. The latter portion of the volume was used by Lloyd N. Josselyn as an account book between 1880 and 1908, likely while farming in the Plymouth, Vermont, area.

Spiritualist medium and writer Achsa W. Sprague maintained this diary between 1855 and 1857 while touring on a lecture circuit around Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and New York. She recorded her daily experiences, travels, and work lecturing and conducting medium trances.

Sprague began writing in Hartford, Connecticut, with commentary about her decision to keep the diary and brief reflections about being healed by "Spirit Agency" and taking up the work of "a Public Speaking Medium" (pages 1-2). She referenced her former confinement due to poor health several times in the volume (pages 8-9; 59; 76-77; 128). Sprague expressed gratitude about spirits' intervention and her ability to convene with them. For example, she wrote, "This is the most beautiful part of my mediumship, that which others do not see, that which is never spoken, but which is felt in every fibre of my soul giving a richness to life which it never had before, & a tinge of Heaven to light my path where all before was dim & shadowy. A blessing to me physically, mentally, morally, intellectually & spiritually have been these Spirits Manifestations." (pages 14-15).

Throughout the diary, Sprague noted the locations of her lectures, attendance, and the crowd's reception. She visited major cities, such as Hartford, Boston, Troy, and Philadelphia, but principally travelled between mid-sized and smaller locales. Occasionally Sprague remarked on the influence of the spirit upon her during her public meetings (pages 6-7). She attended smaller events, too, like a gathering of some twenty people, including Samuel Colt and William H. Burleigh, who met at 11:30 p.m. (page 11), or a private examination of Gerrit Smith's wife (page 14). She noted meeting one-on-one with other mediums to manifest spirits together (page 16) and included thoughts on other "Public Mediums" (page 23).

While touring, Sprague noted anti-Spiritualist lecturers and sentiments (pages 67-66; 83; 116; 149-50; 168-169), but she also wrote of preachers from Christian denominations who were open to Spiritualism or invited her to join them in their churches (page 145). Sprague recorded logistical details of her work, such as travel, housing, and securing sites for her lectures.

Sprague commented on social and professional visits with individuals active in Spiritualist circles, including Sementha Mettler (page 4); Lottie Beebe, a woman who "is said while under the Influence to give beautiful specimens of poetry & sometimes has other manifestations" (page 11); and "Sleeping Lucy" Cooke (page 54), among others. She described other mediums' techniques, like Mettler's "psychometriz[ation]," where she read people's characters based on their handwriting (page 17), or a detailed description of a "physical manifestation" (pages 109-111). Sprague referenced other mediums who used spirit influence to produce poetry, paintings, and drawings (pages 87; 107-108; 162), and she attended a Spiritualist convention at South Royalton, Vermont (pages 146-147).

At times her entries provide insight into some of her critiques about Spiritualism. She referred several times to her support for "practical Spiritualism" (page 79), and she took issue with "the thoroughly scientific or business men who become believers & advocates of this Philosophy; with all their knowledge, make not half as good actors, either as Lecturers or as practical doers, as many who have been less known in the world" (page 23). In another entry she rejected arguments connecting Spiritualism and Free Love (page 100).

Sprague wrote about being invited to funerals (pages 33-36; 114-115), attending to the dying (pages 85-86; 154-155), and speaking with the bereaved (pages 72-73). She also reflected on the death of her own family members and her belief in their role as Guardian Angels (pages 62-63). She recorded her feelings about the impact her mediumship could effect on those facing death and grief, writing, "I have been with the wretched & suffering, but I have tried to sooth their agony, I have heard many a tale of a broken heart, but I have striven to bind them, & give them the balm of consolation, I have stood by the bedside of the dying, & have watched when the breath went out & left even the forms I loved so well cold, still & silent, but I knew they did not die, that they only bloomed for a higher Sphere..." (page 158)

Several passages reflect her authorship, such as working on an article for the New England Spiritualist, decisions to write under a pen-name for a local Vermont newspaper, noticing some of her pieces were being reprinted, meeting with individuals active in Spiritualist publishing networks, and other mentions of publication (pages 53-55; 64; 74; 87; 92-93; 98-99; 102; 106; 140). Periodically, Sprague noted texts she was reading, both works of literature and those relating to Spiritualism, and she was particularly delighted while staying with a family who appreciated reading "Shelley, Tennyson, Lowell &c... But now that the weather is pleasant again I find that I am public property, & shall be obliged in a great degree to bid good bye to the quiet happiness of listening to the poets & enter into the realities of life. Well it is right to mingle in lifes realities. I Thank God for the beautiful inspirations I have listened to, but more still, for the beautiful inspirations that come to me at morn, at noon, at night from unsung poets & philosophers, even the Angel Messengers He sends. And more, still more, that it is given me to mingle with the realities of life & give them forth to the suffering children of humanity. And as far as my imperfect nature will allow me, to carry the teachings out in my own every day life, & bring them into its practicalities" (page 174). Throughout the diary she wrote introspectively about being of service, using her time profitably, and living up to her higher purpose.

Sprague's interest in social reform is also documented in the volume, in visits to the Hartford "Asylum for educating the Deaf & Dumb" (page 3), concern for the poor (pages 18-21; 49; 55; 79; 119; 140; 162; 164-7; 169-70), women's rights (pages 37-39), and prisons (pages 104-105; 170-1; 176-8). She met Lucretia Mott at a women's antislavery meeting (page 175).

Descriptions of daily life include commentary on weather and nature as well as her health and that of her family, revealing Sprague's interest in various medicinal practices such as magnetism (pages 4 and 162) and healing mediums (pages 28 and 160). While at home with her parents in Vermont, she wrote of social visits, her parents' living situation, and local requests for her to speak, including at a wedding where "A song through me from the Spirit Land concluded the services" (page 43). While on her lecture circuit, she also commented on cities she visited. For example, in Hartford she visited the "Charter Oak" and Lydia H. Sigourney's former residence (pages 4-6); in Salem, Massachusetts, she commented on how the history of the witch trials was handled in the community (page 121). She wrote of meeting a Shaker woman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, (page 122) and seeing Edwin Forrest perform in Providence (page 173). While in Philadelphia, she toured local landmarks, attended Quaker meetings and Catholic services, and visited the Academy of Fine Arts with Samuel Sartain (135). After trying to see Benjamin Franklin's burial spot, she lamented the high walls surrounding it and concluded, "There is too great a tendency in the human mind to seek the grave of the mighty dead & follow them no further" (page 138).

The diary bears pencil marks of a later hand, possibly that of Leonard Twynham indicating passages for publication. The latter portion of the volume was used by Lloyd N. Josselyn as an account book between 1880 and 1908, likely while farming in the Plymouth, Vermont, area. He documented expenditures mostly for household goods and clothing, animal care, foodstuffs, agricultural labor, taxes, digging graves and purchase of headstone, house and vehicle upkeep, etc.

Collection

William H. Withington papers [microform], 1853-1909

2 microfilms

Civil War officer, banker, Republican State Representative and Senator from Jackson, Michigan. Correspondence, special orders, notes, business papers, and miscellaneous items, primarily relating to his Civil War service as Colonel of the Seventeenth Michigan Infantry, and to a possible appointment to the U.S. Senate in 1894; also notes on the management of the Withington & Cooley Manufacturing Company, 1895-1903, diary of a European trip, 1897, and photographs.

The papers of William H. Withington consist of correspondence, special orders, notes, and miscellaneous items relating to his Civil War service as Colonel of the Seventeenth Michigan Infantry; business records of the Withington & Cooley Manufacturing Company, correspondence and other material concerning his political career as Republican state legislator and state senator.

This collection is divided into four series: Civil War Activities, Personal Papers, Withington & Cooley Manufacturing Company Records, all of which are arranged chronologically, and Newspaper Clippings.