Mary E. Parker notebook : manuscript.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Parker, Mary E., creator.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Quakers--Pennsylvania--Chester County--Sources.

Quakers.

Pennsylvania--Social life and customs.

Pennsylvania.

Genre:

autographs (manuscripts)

commonplace books

lists (document genres)

recipes

Physical Description:

1 volume (144 pages) ; 22 x 27 cm

Production:

Westtown, Pennsylvania circa 1884-1890s.

Biography/History:

On the first page of the volume, Mary E. Parker wrote her name, Westtown, Pa., and the date, September 15, 1884. Beyond this inscription, there is nothing that provides information about Mary. It is almost certain that she was a Quaker based up the format of the dates; and her friends who contributed quotes were members of the New Garden Monthly Meeting and the Byberry Monthly Meeting. She appears to have read extensively and to have a wide interest in the natural world. It is unclear if some of this volume which includes lists of poets, animals, birds, clouds and flowers may have been a result of her schooling or if it was simply a documentation of her interests.

Summary:

This volume contains sections that include a commonplace book, autographs (with signatures in the signer's own hands), recipes, and lists of poets, animals, birds, clouds, and flowers. The notebook begins with a commonplace book (pp. 3-15 and 22-34) in which Mary E. Parker copied quotes from authors and poets including Robert Burns, Alice Cary, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Sir Walter Scott, and Alfred Lord Tennyson, to name a few. There is a long entry by John Boyd Kinnear that was part of Woman's work and woman's culture: a series of essays, edited by Josephine E. Butler. Longfellow's The wreck of the Hesperus is copied on pp. 31-34, in a hand that is not Mary E. Parker's. A list of proverbs by authors and poets including Burns, Byron, Cooper, Dryden, J.G. Holland, Pope, Scott, Shakespeare, Swift, and Wordsworth is laid into the volume between pp. 48-49. Autographs by friends are found from pp. 15-20. Some of these friends include: Will Carlton, Sylvania Cooper, Mary Anna Forsythe, James Taylor, and members of the Williams family (Jonathan G., Hettie H., Susan E. and Susan R. Williams). A list of names listed last name, first name is laid into the volume between pp. 68-69. The page of names is headed with "Miss McBride." Recipes are found from pp. 75-98. Many of the recipes are for sweets; however there are some for savory dishes as well. There are many recipes that include ginger, including soft gingercakes, drop gingercakes, gingercakes (6 recipes), soft gingerbread, ginger snaps, and rich molasses cookies. There are recipes for coffee, cakes (Mountain Cake, p. 93) and frostings, biscuits, cookies (multiple recipes for jumbles), custards, and puddings (Cape May Pudding, p. 81 and Plymouth Pudding, p. 82). There are multiple recipes for corn cakes, eggs, oatmeal, omelets, oysters, rice, and sauces. A "table for boiling" can be found on p. 96. There is a single housecleaning recipe (p. 83) included. A recipe for corn muffins is laid into the volume between pp. 72-73. The final portion of the notebook contains lists and instructions that may have been a result of some schooling. On p. 107, there are notes about the use of massage to strengthen muscles and stimulate the action of the skin and internal organs, as well as notes relating to respiration and pulse in infants, children, and adults. American poets, historians, Scotch poets, and English and Irish poets are listed, often by last name only, on pp. 132-133. Names of different clouds and the principal narcotics used in different parts of the world are listed on p. 134. Trivia about lead, salt, and orders of animal (described by Mary as fauna) are listed on pp. 136-137. Types of plants with common and Latin names are listed on pp. 139-140. A definition of specific gravity is laid into the volume between pp. 104-105. The volume is bound in marbled paper covers and is lacking a spine. There are blank pages throughout the volume: p. 21, pp. 35-74, pp 99-106, pp. 108-131, p. 135, p. 138, and pp. 141-143.

Cited as:

Mary E. Parker Notebook (Ms. Codex 2253). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Book and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

1498263907

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.