Meyerson collection of Vermont diaries, 1883-1934.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Meyerson, Margy Ellin, collector.

Contributor:

Taylor, Florence B., 1848-

Burpee, Fred W., 1864-

Davidson, Gratia E. 1846-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American diaries--19th century--Specimens.

American diaries.

American diaries--20th century--Specimens.

American diaries--Women authors.

American diaries--Male authors.

American diaries--Vermont--19th century.

American diaries--Vermont--20th century.

Male authors.

Brattleboro (Vt.)--Social life and customs--19th century.

Brattleboro (Vt.).

Newfane (Vt.)--Social life and customs--20th century.

Newfane (Vt.).

Vermont.

Genre:

Diaries.

Manuscripts, American.

Specimens.

Penn Provenance:

Gift of Margy Ellin Meyerson, 2010.

Physical Description:

4 boxes (7 items)

Place of Publication:

1883-1934.

Summary:

A collection of seven journals comprising four diarists from Vermont, two from Brattleboro, one from Newfane, and one from an unidentified town. Fred W. Burpee of Brattleboro (Box 1) wrote two diaries, the first in 1883 at the age of nineteen, and the second in 1891 at twenty-six. Burpee lives with his parents and works each day before school. In the 1883 journal Burpee records the events of each day, including the weather, receiving or posting mail--his and his family's--his father's long illness and visits from the doctor. The 1891 diary contains more concise entries and includes meals, such as oysters for breakfast, daily chores and work, the weather (including the temperature), social events, and exchanging photographs with friends. Personal ledgers at the end of each diary record incoming and outgoing monies. Clippings of poems, logic problems, etc. are inserted in Burpee's diary from 1891. The diary of Florence B. Tyler of Brattleboro (Box 2) spans an eleven-month period in 1891. The diary was a gift from her husband, Lieutenant-Commander George W. Tyler (1847-1896), who was on his last cruise as a navigator aboard the Mohican in the Pacific. Florence Tyler records her posts to and from her husband, the daily weather, visitors, daily chores, and her summer at Chesterfield Lake from July to August. Florence's last entry, 23 November 1891, reads: "George came home." The three diaries by eighty-seven-year-old Gratia E. Davidson of Newfane (Box 3) record the daily events and details of her life from June 1933 to September 1934 with each page initialed "G.E.D." Davidson was an active temperance worker, newspaper contributor, and Sunday-school teacher. She discusses the daily events, weather, chores, telephone calls, mail received from and sent to family and friends, and the seasonal rhythms of canning and preserving fruits and vegetables. Her daughter, Lula D. Osgood, arrives each day to help with the chores, and a servant named Ethel is at the Davidson house daily. Gratia discusses her grandchildren, town meetings, and community events. The two 1934 journals are written in printed calendar diaries from 1889 and 1891, which belonged to her husband, Molin Davidson (b. 1835). End leaves contain Molin's notes and lists with some payment entries, and each is inscribed "Diary of M. Davidson." A 1933 journal by an anonymous diarist from Vermont contains short and sporadic entries. Written in this journal are the concerns of a dog named Betty, meals, friends that stop over, town meetings, moving pictures, and the health of birds and hatchlings.

OCLC:

608202798