Rachel S. Glick diaries : manuscript.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Glick, Rachel S. (Rachel Stoltzfus), 1912-2004, author.

Subjects (All):

Amish women.

Families.

Farm life.

Midwifery.

Women in medicine.

Amish Country (Pa.).

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

Diaries.

Manuscripts, English -- 20th century.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Ian Brabner, Rare Americana (Wilmington, Delaware), 2025.

Physical Description:

6 volumes (220 pages in each volume) : paper ; 18 x 14 cm

Production:

Upper Leacock, Pennsylvania, 1937, 1940-1941, 1943, 1950, 1955.

Other Title:

cover title: Ready Reference Diary

Biography/History:

Rachel S. Glick (Rachel Stoltzfus Glick) was born on May 5, 1912, the eldest daughter of Amos R. Glick and Fannie Fisher Stoltzfus. She had 10 siblings who lived into adulthood; among them Malinda (1920-1998) who is frequently mentioned withing the diaries. It appears that, sometime in her 50s, she married Henry Stoltzfus Zook (1908-1991); who had previously been married to Leah Glick (1909-1963). An Amish woman, Rachel S. Glick lived in Upper Leacock, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and census records listed her occupation as housework in 1940 and as practical nurse in 1950. Throughout the diaries, Rachel S. Glick comments on her cooking, chores, farm work, and attending to the sick and helping with birth of and caring for babies. There are numerous mentions of wedding and funerals; as well of mentions of attending Gmay (Amish term for religious services). Her obituary states that she was a member of the Old Order Amish Church. She died on October 27, 2004 in Leola, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Summary:

Rachel S. Glick’s diaries document her every-day life in 1937, 1940-1941, 1943, 1951, and 1955. Nearly every day contains a brief description of the weather and her activities which largely included washing; cleaning; cooking, baking, and preserving food; farm and garden work; stores visited; people visiting or visited; people she nursed; and her midwife work. Midwifery work is frequently described in the following format: “Yonie fetched me in the morn to Amos K. King’s, they have a little girl named Mary. Weight 8 ¼ pounds.” It appears that when Glick helped with nursing and new babies, she also helped that family with meals, cleaning, and other chores. Funerals of people are almost always recorded with full names and often ages. While entries are short and often minimal in detail; the diary provides a glimpse into the community-centric way of life of this Amish community. Glick often spent nights with the families for whom she was caring; and there is frequent mention of her sisters or other women from the Order taking over care when she needed to leave. She helped plan funerals and possibly helped determine when a doctor or hospital was required (lockjaw, abscesses, extraction of tonsils, and accidents). While her role in the community seems vital; it also seems as if every member of the community was equally invested in the congregation's well-being.Glick’s diary entries are recorded in a commercial diary, The ready reference diary, produced by Watt and Shand, which contains printed information, in addition to space for daily notes. Each volume is bound in full red cloth with the printed title and year on the cover. There are laid in items in volume 4, after page 136 and after page 138; and in volume 6, after page 28.

Notes:

Title supplied by cataloger.

Bookseller's description laid in.

Cited as:

Rachel S. Glick Diaries (Ms. Codex 2328). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.