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

Cynthia M. Buss of Oneida, Ohio, kept this pre-printed "The Union" daily diary from January 1 to December 31, 1858. Between the ages of 15 and 16, she kept brief notes on the weather, visits, dancing, games, picnics, sleigh rides, time spent with friends, school and singing school, studying, church and Sunday school, evening lyceum events, visiting lecturers, camp meetings, birthdays, cleaning, and ironing. She also wrote letters and compositions, and remarked on her siblings' activities.

Cynthia M. Buss of Oneida, Ohio, kept this pre-printed "The Union" daily diary from January 1 to December 31, 1858. Between the ages of 15 and 16, she kept notes on the weather, visits, dancing, games, picnics, sleigh rides, time spent with friends, school and singing school, studying, church and Sunday school, evening lyceum events, visiting lecturers, camp meetings, birthdays, cleaning, and ironing. She also wrote letters and compositions, and remarked on her siblings' activities. Between May 29 and July 8, she traveled to Pittsburgh to spend time with her aunt and uncle. In August, she suffered from a swollen face accompanied by significant pain. Frequently mentioned surnames include Totten, Wright, Hall, Clark, Fishel, Eakin, and Daniel.

Out of the ordinary entries include those on a phrenological lecture (January 18), an exhibition on magnetism and electricity by James Eakin (February 13), taffy pulling (March 10), a yearly meeting of "nearly four thousand people" at Minerva (August 5), quilting (October 1, November 3), trying but failing to see the Comet Donati (October 9), a visit to the fair (October 14), "making up my new French Merino" (November 16), and dipping 68 pounds of candles (November 20).

Cynthia Buss recorded letters sent and received in the "cash account" section at the back of the diary.

In his journal, Daniel Shea, a literate, passionate writer, has left an outstanding record of his service during the last months of the Civil War.

In his journal, Daniel Shea, a literate, passionate writer, has left an outstanding record of his service during the last months of the Civil War. Although the journal entries are seldom of any great length, they are frequent enough and detailed enough to be useful, particularly during the Mobile and Montgomery campaigns. Although Shea identified with his "ethnic" background -- he was Irish born and raised -- he did not serve in an ethnic regiment, and mentions his background explicitly only once, on Saint Patrick's Day.

This is the 1861 pre-printed pocket diary of Daniel Hewett, a stonecutter, quarry worker, and machinist in Waterbury, Vermont. His brief daily entries include notes about the wind and weather, home and employed work, and occasional other remarks. The diary entries are followed by the writer's financial accounting for the year. The printed portion of the diary is titled, "The Vermont Diary containing Commercial Almanac, and Vermont Directory for 1861, between February 6 and December 31, 1861" (Rutland, Vt.: George A. Tuttle & Company, [1860]).

This is the 1861 pre-printed pocket diary of Daniel Hewett, a laborer in Waterbury, Vermont. His brief daily entries include notes about the wind and weather, home and employed work, and occasional other remarks. While listed as a stonecutter in U.S. censuses from 1850-1900, his labor included working in a foundry, on a manufacturing die (sometimes "lettering die"), in a quarry, cutting stone (esp. quartz), and other tasks. One of his employers was the Howden, Colby & Company, at which he molded wringer handles for their patent clothes ringer; other employers included Howe & Co., J. P. Harrington, and E.S.C.

In one or two word remarks, he also noted activities such as "sap day", "went fishing", "fire company", and visits to Montpelier and Northfield. The diary entries are followed by the writer's financial accounting for the year (payments received, amounts paid, and transaction names). The volume also contains six pages of an alphabetic substitution or transposition code. Daniel's son Henry J. Hewett signed the beginning of the diary in 1863 and made a note about sending a letter.

The printed portion of the diary is titled, "The Vermont Diary containing Commercial Almanac, and Vermont Directory for 1861, between February 6 and December 31, 1861" (Rutland, Vt.: George A. Tuttle & Company, [1860]).

The Daniel R. Hundley diary was kept by an Alabamian while he was in Chicago seeking a career as an author. The diary contains daily records of his activities, and his reactions as a southern Baptist, living in the North, to national and international political issues such as abolition. Of particular interest are his scathing comments on John Brown and his "assassins," whose fates he followed very closely in the days after the Harper's Ferry raid.

Daniel R. Hundley kept a diary while he was in Chicago seeking a career as an author. The diary contains daily records of his activities and his reactions as a southern Baptist, living in the North, to national and international political issues such as abolition. He wrote of current political and social events and of his deepening poverty. Interspersed with the political commentary are notes on the progress of Hundley's sick wife, whose condition he described almost daily. Hundley was not employed, but often went into the city, sold produce from the farm, and was an avid hunter of small game, especially passenger pigeons, quail, and rabbits. Throughout the year, Hundley worked on writing a book to explain the South and slavery to northerners. This volume was eventually published in 1860 as Social Relations In Our Southern States . Chapter titles include: "Southern Yeoman," "Middle Classes in the South," "Southern Bully," "Cotton Snobs," and "Negro Slavery in the South." He occasionally sent philosophical essays to The Harbinger and to Harper’s Weekly, but they were rejected for publication. Though not a secessionist, he was strongly pro-slavery, which caused some friction with his northern neighbors. Finally he sent his wife and children off to live with his father in Alabama and left for New York to study for the ministry.

• January 1: Hundley listed his debts and assets and voiced approval for Senator Stephen Douglas over Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln.
• January 30: Hundley discussed reading Livingston’s "Travels in Africa" and points out abolitionists' inconsistencies.
• February 5: Hundley recorded that his wife’s grandmother died in Virginia, leaving 17 family servants to her and her other grandchildren. The relatives in Virginia wanted to pay Hundley's wife for her share of the slaves, so that they would not have to be sold.
• February 27: Hundley reported that some Chicagoans had contributed $10,000 to purchase Mount Vernon from a relative of George Washington.
• February 28: Hundley wrote that General Daniel Sickles had shot and killed United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Philip Barton Keys for having an affair with Sickles's wife.
• April 21: Hundley heard Henry Ward Beecher lecture and concluded that he was only a second-rate man with little grasp of intellect or depth of thought: "His forte is neither reason nor common sense."
• July 1: Hundley wrote that Napoleon III’s Franco-Austrian war had depressed grain prices and that he wanted to buy some wheat on speculation. However, the depression in the grain market had caused some of the most prominent grain dealers in Chicago to fail.
• October 18: Hundley learned of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. He referred to Brown as a "crimson sinner," and called for his life as punishment for the raid.
• October 20: Hundley revealed his happiness at the deaths of Brown's sons: they lie "stark dead upon the sail of Slavery."
• October 22: Hundley incorrectly assumed that Harper's Ferry would "prove the death-blow of [the Republican] party, and will force them to abandon their separate organization and unite with the general position."
• October 27: Hundley mentioned that an "ultra Republican [...] believed Brown would be canonized as a martyr for Liberty in one hundred years from to-day."
• October 29: Hundley reported that William H. Seward was implicated in "the sad affair of Harper's Ferry," and Hundley predicted the end of Seward's political career.
• November 2: Hundley wrote of Brown’s conviction.
• December 1: Hundley worried about the "imminent dissolution of the Union." He argued with an abolitionist that the Bible sanctioned slavery.
• December 2:, Hundley expressed his hope that the Union would be saved and that Brown's actions would not cause it to rupture.
• December 21: his brother arrived from Alabama with $2,000, which enabled him to pay off his creditors. He put his wife, his three young children, and a servant on a train for Alabama and set off for New York City for the winter, where he planned to enroll in a seminary and study to become a Baptist minister.

This diary of a railroad and steamer trip chronicles the author's travels from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Midwest. The diary includes descriptions of scenery and cities in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa.

This diary of a railroad and steamer trip (88 pages) chronicles the author's travels from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Midwest. The diary includes descriptions of scenery and cities in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa.

The volume opens on April 21, 1857, the author's 30th birthday, and begins with a cross-county railroad trip on the Central Railroad from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Fom there, he traveled on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad to St. Louis, Missouri, where he arrived on April 25. In St. Louis, he noted the 55-minute time difference, went sightseeing, and met acquaintances from Delaware. His travels in the area included a trip to the Jefferson Barracks, which he recorded in detail (April 27, 1857), and several visits to nearby St. Charles, where he attended a Mormon church service (May 3, 1857). From May 6-12, he embarked on a boat trip to Leavenworth, Kansas, on the steamer Oceana, making frequent mentions of scenery in his diary. During his time in Kansas, he visited several local land offices, where he commented on inflated prices, and he discussed the recent history of the region, tainted by the violence of "Border Ruffians." From Kansas, he returned to St. Louis via Missouri River steamers and traveled up the Mississippi River to Quincy, Illinois, and Keokuk, Iowa. Throughout his journey, he recorded his incoming and outgoing correspondence, primarily to relatives in Delaware, and attended religious services of numerous Christian denominations. Additionally, he continued to meet friends and describe scenery and points of interest. He also occasionally made note of emigrants encountered along his travels, including a group of French socialist settlers in Nauvoo, Illinois (June 10, 1857) and other emigrants headed further west from Missouri and Kansas. The diary ends in Quincy, Illinois, on June 22, 1857, with the author setting out for Palmyra, Missouri, where he spent much of the last week of his travels.

Edith Maude Murphy wrote daily diary entries while traveling from her home in Lincoln County, Nebraska, to Kansas and Colorado in the summer of 1907. Murphy traveled with her aunt and uncle, Maude and Edward Murphy, and her cousins Myrtle, Bertha, Fulton, Milton, and Nevah (or Nivah).

Edith Maude Murphy wrote 72 pages of daily diary entries while traveling from her home in Lincoln County, Nebraska, to Kansas and Colorado from June 25, 1907-August 13, 1907. She accompanied her aunt and uncle, Maude and Edward Murphy, and her cousins Myrtle, Bertha, Fulton, Milton, and Nevah (or Nivah) of Brady, Nebraska to Colorado Springs, Colorado. She titled her diary "A Trip to the Middle West."

In her first entry, Murphy commented on the family's traveling wagon, which was driven by two ponies, and their supplies, which included a tent, cooking utensils, clothing, and food. Throughout the diary, she described towns in southwest Nebraska, northwest Kansas, and central Colorado, sometimes mentioning interactions with local residents. The Murphy family occasionally met with acquaintances or relatives such as Joe Murphy, who joined them for part of the trip. While heading west, the Murphys followed the Rock Island Railroad and other railroad lines, and Edith often made observations about the weather and scenery. She collected rocks and Native American artifacts. In her entry of July 4, she discussed Independence Day celebrations in Goodland, Kansas, and the increased police presence. The party neared Pike's Peak on July 10 and ascended the mountain on July 19. On July 27, Murphy noted her birthday and resolved to maintain her dignity despite aging. The Murphys remained near Colorado Springs for several days in mid- to late July, and returned home by way of northeast Colorado. Edith reached home on August 13.

The final 2 pages contain signatures by May Gustafson and Edith Maude Murphy, various scribbles, and a brief poem. The volume was originally intended as a "Local Medical Examiner's Record" for the "Supreme Tent Knights of the Maccabees O.T.W."

This pocket diary contains daily entries that Edmund Davis wrote while attending Edge Hill School in Princeton, New Jersey, in the spring of 1865. David noted daily occurrences at the institution, such as religious services and baseball games, and also recorded major political events, including the capture of Richmond, Virginia, and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

This pocket diary contains 54 pages of daily entries that Edmund Davis wrote while attending Edge Hill School in Princeton, New Jersey, from March 6, 1865, to June 12, 1865. He noted daily events at the school, such as classes, sporting matches, illnesses, and religious services, and also reported local responses to recent news, including a "horn spree" celebrating the capture of Richmond, Virginia (April 3 and April 4) and the reaction to Lincoln's assassination. He correctly identified John Wilkes Booth as the assassin who leapt from the presidential box shouting "sic semper tyrannis," but incorrectly stated that Booth had been "torn to pieces by the mob" and that William Henry Seward had been stabbed to death (April 15). On April 19, Edge Hill was draped in black to mourn the president, and on April 28, the students were informed of Booth's capture.

Davis mentioned many aspects of school life, such as expulsions (March 20 and May 24), April Fool's tricks (April 1), and the prevalence of "the itch" in early May. On May 12, he mentioned his decision to wait an additional year before attending college. He and his classmates enjoyed sports, and Davis took note of rugby matches (April 25) and baseball games (May 13, May 23, June 3, June 5, and June 7); Davis participated in his first game on June 5. A picture of Edmund Davis is pasted onto the diary's first page. The volume also contains 3 newspaper clippings: a copy of "Auld Lang Syne," a remedy for bruises, and an article detailing the "Fates of the Apostles."

Edward Barker's journals include documentation of Mr. Barker's 1855 emigration from England to America and his later Civil War service as chaplain in the 40th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

Barker's Civil War diary contains a unique record of the events leading up to the fall of Richmond. It is written, interestingly enough, in a ledger book taken from the Confederate Provost Marshal's office in Fredericksburg when the 40th Massachusetts occupied that town. The first six pages of the ledger contain brief medical records (little more than notes) on Confederate soldiers, apparently kept by a Confederate surgeon at Fredericksburg in February, 1865.

As a Chaplain, drawing comparatively high pay and being freed from many of the routine duties of other soldiers, Barker had far more opportunities to observe the area around Richmond and to visit different parts of Richmond than the average soldier. Barker's curiosity led him to visit several of the better-known sights, including Chimborazo Hospital, Hollywood Cemetery, the prison, and the area of town where the "F.F.V.'s" lived. Most interestingly, he often took the opportunity to speak with local inhabitants, both Union sympathizers and die-hard Confederates, other clergymen, and physicians. Barker writes clearly, intelligently, and with insight about the end of the war, and he provides vivid accounts of the first days of Union occupation in Richmond. The diary also includes a particularly valuable account of Fredericksburg when occupied by Union forces in February, 1865.

The diary that Barker kept during his passage from England to America in 1855 contains daily accounts of his activities from the first of the year through the time of his sea voyage and arrival in Monson. A few entries, most notably those at the beginning of the diary, during the days surrounding his departure, and those written immediately preceding and upon his arrival in Boston are very full, and contain unusually detailed accounts of the emotions and experiences of a young man emigrating to America for economic betterment, who is forced, albeit temporarily, to leave most of his family behind. Like his Civil War diary, it is marked with intelligent, though occasionally overly moralistic observations. Included at the end of the diary are 18 poems written by Barker during the voyage on various topics, including freedom in a slave-holding society, the ocean, his family, and emigration.

The Edward Miller journal contains daily entries between July and November of 1794 concerning his military service, including the building of Fort Wayne and the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

The Edward Miller journal contains 49 pages of daily entries, which document the period between July 26 and November 1, 1794, when Miller was serving as captain in the 2nd U.S. Sublegion, under General Anthony Wayne. During this time, the Sublegion departed from Greenville, Ohio, traveled around northwest Ohio--including Fort Recovery and the towns of Defiance and Maumee--and returned to Greenville. The journal recounts the sublegion's duties (including building and repairing roads, bridges, and garrisons), its many marches, encounters with Native Americans, and the exhaustion and illnesses of the soldiers.

Miller's detailed description of the Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20), which relates positions and numbers of wounded and killed, sheds light on the conflict. Also of interest are his continual updates concerning the building of Fort Wayne, which occur between September 22 and October 22. Miller's entries, though frequently terse, show the complexity of the relationships between the Americans, the British, and various American Indian tribes engaged in the dispute. On October 13, he wrote, "The Indians are now in Counsel at Ditroit with Mr. Elliot and Colo Symco [Simcoe], which gives us every Reason to suppose that the Indians however prone to peaseable measures will be urged to go to war by the presents and promises of the British." Miller's journal ends abruptly on November 1, 1794, just before the Sublegion's return to Greenville.

The Edward P. Smith journal pertains to Smith's experiences in Massachusetts and England from 1871-1872. He discussed his social activities, job offers, guest sermons he delivered after becoming a licensed preacher, and his intention to visit France. He also described fellow passengers from his voyage to England in the spring of 1872, including General Daniel Sickles and the explorer Paul du Chaillu.

The Edward P. Smith journal (82 pages), written in London on May 9, 1872, contains Smith's retrospective account of his experiences in Massachusetts and England between October 1871 and the spring of 1872.

The volume begins with Smith's recollections about his voyage from England to the United States on the Aleppo in October 1871. After arriving in Massachusetts, he mentioned his theological studies, which culminated with a license to preach (p. 7). Smith preached guest sermons in multiple Massachusetts churches while attempting to find a teaching job. During a visit to Concord, Massachusetts, he commented on the town's history and prominent residents, and drew a manuscript map of its landmarks (p. 38). The Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science hired Smith to teach modern languages. He desired to improve his knowledge of French by travelling to Paris and he solicited advice from Harvard professors such as James Russell Lowell and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (pp. 42-43).

Smith sailed for Liverpool onboard the Adriatic in late April 1872 and described some of his fellow passengers, including General Daniel Sickles and the explorer Paul Du Chaillu, who shared stories of his travels in Africa and Scandinavia. After arriving in Liverpool, Smith continued to London, where he attended a concert at Royal Albert Hall, also attended by members of the British royal family (pp. 78-80). The journal ends mid-sentence. A 7-page manuscript essay, "Decline and Fall of the Merovingian," is laid into the volume.