Clara E. Currier’s Diary, January 1925

by Hannah Elder, Associate Reference Librarian for Rights & Reproductions 

Long time readers of the blog may recall a series of posts that ran from 2015 to 2019, transcribing a line-a-day diary from exactly one century before. This series was run by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, who at the time of her passing in 2023 was the Senior Reference Librarian here at the MHS. Anna was mid-way through that series when I started at the MHS and it quickly became one of my favorite features on the blog. In memory of Anna and to bring back a delightful, regular read, I want to pick up the series and bring to you, our lovely readers, a new diary transcription project.

For 2025 we will be journeying with Clara E. Currier, a woman who lived in or near Haverhill, Massachusetts, and her 1925 diary. Blog readers first met Currier in a 2022 blog post about the 1918 influenza pandemic, which Currier mentioned in her diary for that year. Currier was a regular diarist and while we only have her diaries for 1 July 1918 to 31 December 1919, 1 January 1925 to 31 March 1926, and 1 January 1928 to 1932, I speculate that she kept a diary for most of her adult life. While I haven’t been able to learn much about Currier’s life from sources outside of her diaries, the diaries do tell me that she had a small circle of friends and family in the area, wore glasses, could knit, crochet, embroider, and sew, and had an active volunteer life.

Without further ado, I present Clara Currier’s 1925 diary.

The front cover of a small, brown paperbound diary on top of a bookrest in the MHS reading room.
Clara E. Currier’s diary for 1 January 1925-31 March 1926

Jan. 1, Thurs. Fair and cold, sewed.

Jan. 2, Fri. Dull with snow flurries, cold, embroidered. Swept chambers.

Jan. 3, Sat. Dull, snowed and rained a little, went up to Edith Palmer’s, crocheted.

Jan. 4, Sun. Fair, read, went to church in evening.

Jan. 5, Mon. Fair, went over to Frank’s and played whist.

Jan. 6, Tues. Dull and raw, went to Haverhill* to have eyes tested, called on May Pickering, crocheted.

Jan. 7, Wed. Fair, help cut up lard, crocheted and sewed. Saw a flying machine and a earthquake shock.

Jan. 8, Thurs. Fair and warmer, crocheted, went over to Frank to play whist.

Jan. 9, Fri. Fair, lovely moon, worked on bungalow apron, played whist. Swept chambers.

Jan. 10, Sat. Fair, Gertie, Sizzie and Ralph came up.

Jan. 11, Sun. Dull, went to church and over to Uncle Will’s. Charlie, Delia and Ben were there.

Jan. 12, Mon. Snowed, did some embroidery.

Jan. 13, Tues. Snowed a little and cleared, embroidered, played whist.

Jan. 14, Wed. Fair and cold, Mary and I went down to Kate’s for the afternoon and to the Grange Installation by Mr. + Mrs. Otis Eastman in the evening. Listened in on the radio.

Jan. 15, Thurs. Fair, crocheted and played whist.

Jan. 16, Fri. Dull with snow in afternoon and evening, crocheted, done the sweeping.

Jan. 17, Sat. Fair, finished a doily and sewed.

Jan. 18, Sun. Fair with snow flurries, started to read, “Fair Harbor” by Lincoln. [editor’s note: Fair Harbor by Joseph C. Lincoln is available to read for free on the Internet Archive]

Jan. 19, Mon. Fair, finished some insertion, went up and called on Helen West with Mary.

A news clipping covering manuscript diary entries. The article describes what will happen during the total solar eclipse on January 24, 1925.
Diary entries for Jan 20-24, partially covered by a news clipping on what to expect during the solar eclipse

Jan. 20, Tues. Snow, took the 9.45 train for Haverhill and came to Amesbury and went to work after dinner.

Jan. 21, Wed. Fair, went to Haverhill to Rebekah Roll Call.

Jan 22, Thurs. 3.42 Fair with strong wind at night. Settled.

Jan. 23, Fri. Fair, very cold and windy, went up town. 

Jan. 24, Sat. Changeable and warmer, saw the eclipse from start to finish, began to cover from the west side and came off from the top. The moon passed between the earth and sun nearly total, had the appearance of a thunder storm a coming. Went to Haverhill after my glasses. Gertie rode home with me. Got some overshoes.

Jan. 25, Sun. Fair, went to church and called on Cody and Charlie. They have a cute bungalow.

Jan. 26, Mon. Fair and a little warmer, went to Corner Class meeting at Mrs. Fiske.

Jan. 27, Tues. Snow, did some clearing up.

Jan. 28, Wed. Fair and cold, called on John and Mabel and Mrs. Dennis.

Jan. 29, Thurs. Cold with snow at night, cleaned up kitchen. First pay day.

Jan. 30, Fri. Rain and snow and then froze up, icy. Covered my box for grange.

Jan. 31, Sat. Fair and a little warmer, went up town on errands, read.

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff.

*Please note that this diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original.

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“Tell it to the whales”

by Lauren Gray, Reference Librarian

Whale tours abound in Massachusetts. In 2024, boats take to the seas laden with tourists white-knuckling smart phones, their eager lenses hoping to catch a glimpse of tail, or a rounded, spurting hump. A native Missourian (read: ‘landlocked’) and new resident of Massachusetts, I took my first whale watch tour in June and was not disappointed. The whales delivered, and my phone was there to catch every hump, spurt, and tail (not to mention a few dolphins). The whale watch got me thinking about the history of whaling. Whaling was a massive industry in the 19th century, and the profits were enormous. But what did that mean to the whales? I’m an animal-lover at heart, and I can’t stand the thought of those giant majestic beauties floundering under a barrage of harpoons, yet that’s exactly what kept the New England economy viable during a critical point in the region’s history. That history has also given us scores of archival material. On further consideration, as it turns out, whaling is the perfect metaphor for America—its greed, violence, exploitation of nature, and human arrogance define one of the worst chapters in American environmental history. (In the west, their quadrupedal cousins, the bison, can tell you the sequel.)

Pilgrims brought whaling to Massachusetts. (Most pre-contact Indigenous people in New England did not actively hunt whales.) Spying a pod of whales during a voyage from Plymouth to Cape Cod in 1621, Edward Winslow commented, “…every day we saw whales playing hard by us, of which in that place, if we had instruments and means to take them, we might have made a very rich return, which to our great grief we wanted.” [1] He went on to report that, had he the right tools for the job, he “might have made three of four thousand pounds worth of oil” out of the whales, and “purpose the next winter to fish for whale here.”

However, it would be another two decades before there was wide-spread commercial whaling in the colonies. By the 1670s, small whaling ships, crewed by English and Indigenous people together, hunted off the coast of Cape Cod. Even before the end of the 18th century, scarcity in the whale population in the northern Atlantic forced whalers to round the horns to hunt for whales in the Pacific, where an ocean of opportunity awaited. The golden age of whaling had begun.

Color photograph of a page discolored with age with brown ink handwriting in a diary format. Halfway down the page are drawings of two whale's tails next to each other.
Page from the diary of Perry R. Brightman aboard the whale ship George & Mary, 1852

Golden, that is, for the sea captains, merchants, and bankers who lined their pockets from the spoils of the hunt. In the first half of the 19th century, American whalers dominated the global market, and the whaling industry contributed $10 million dollars to the U.S. GDP (which is over $300,000,000 in 2024 dollars).[2] Whale oil, made from boiled blubber, spermaceti from sperm whales’ heads, and baleen—the delicate bristles found in baleen whales’ mouths—were key resources for the Victorians. Baleen was woven into the corsets that pinched the waists of tubercular maidens and buxom madams alike; whale oil burned in lighthouses along every coast; and spermaceti wax dripped and flared in candles that illuminated nights “lit only by fire.”[3] In the Victorian world, the whale was omnipresent and indispensable.

If it was fantastically lucrative for the merchants profiting from their ill-begotten wares, it was not so fantastic for the whales. During whaling’s heyday, the whale population plummeted. Due to the steady decrease in whale populations and the advent of viable alternatives (like manufactured gas and petroleum), the American whaling industry went into a steep decline, and effectively ended in the mid-1880s.[4] While scholars disagree on exact numbers, over 150,000 whales were killed in just 50 years of whaling’s heyday, leading to the decimation of the blue, right, gray, and bowhead populations.

In the historical record, whales don’t fare much better. After my whale watch tour, I came back to the MHS to start research on this blog post, but I found that whales surface in the MHS catalog rarely and even then, the archival record captures them as creatures to be hunted and exploited. The MHS holds dozens of ships logs, descriptions of whaling voyages, personal papers of those who participated in the whaling industry or profited from it, histories of the towns where whaling dominated, and much more. But where, exactly, are the whales that make whaling possible? In the archive, the pictures that come down to us are grainy and grim: a boy perched next to a beached and conquered finback; a sun-bleached skeleton of indeterminate species, dreary in sepia; a captive beluga in the Boston Aquarial Gardens flashing through a young girl’s diary “white almost as snow.” In the archive, the whales’ memory is entwined with the legacy of violence and greed, the hunters’ hubris immortalized in ledgers and statistics.

The history of whaling is, in large part, the history of New England. Thankfully, the industry collapsed before irreparable harm could be done. Whale populations rebounded throughout the 20th century, and now the ‘gentle giants’ are objects of awe instead of greed. Just this month, amazed Bostonians were greeted by a breaching whale in Boston Harbor, and local institutions like the New England Aquarium are at the forefront of conservancy and education. However, despite whales’ popularity, and the efforts of environmental groups and advocates, whale populations continue to be disrupted by illegal whaling; shipping lanes interfere with mating patterns; and global warming makes whale feeding grounds unstable. Edward Winslow’s “great grief” in 1621 was that he could not hunt the whales; in 2024, it’s that the colonists eventually succeeded. Meanwhile, in the archive, we are left to grapple with whaling’s history. Whaling’s economic benefits alone fill volumes, and the data found in ships logs and ledgers help us to understand our changing climate. Stories from whaling voyages help us to better understand the human condition.

I wish it was as simple as balancing the karma between history and what we can learn from it. All I can think is, “tell it to the whales.”[5]

[1] Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation (1621)

[2] Lance E. Davis, Robert E. Gallman, and Teresa D. Hutchins, “The Decline of U.S. Whaling” (The Business History Review, Vol. 62, No. 4, Winter, 1988 pp. 569-595)

[3] William Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire (Little, Brown and Company, 1993)

[4] Whaling globally didn’t peak until the 1960s.

[5] Max Brooks, World War Z (Three Rivers Press, 2007)

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“Great sights upon the water…”: unexplained phenomena in early Boston

By Daniel Tobias Hinchen, Reader Services

I hear you haue great sights upon the water seene betweene the Castle and the Towne: men walking on the water in the night euer since the shippe was blowen vp or fire in the shape of men. There are verie few do beleeue it yet here is a greate report of it, brought from thence the last day of the weeke.*

 

The above excerpt is from the letter shown, dated 29 January 1643/4, written from John Endecott in Salem to Governor John Winthrop in Boston. In the weeks preceding this letter, a series of strange occurrences took place in Boston, and Winthrop recorded the events in his journal. It seems that the entries were written after the fact since Winthrop relates a couple of happenings in the same entry. The first event, though, was said to have taken place on January 18th of that year.

About midnight, three men, coming in a boat to Boston, saw two lights arise out of the water near the north point of the town cove, in form like a man, and went at a small distance to the town, and so to the south point, and there vanished away. They saw them about a quarter of an hour, being between the town and governour’s garden. The like was seen by many, a week after, arising about Castle Island and in one fifth of an hour came to John Gallop’s point.

 

Winthrop continues his entry recording matters pertaining to maintenance of Castle Island and defense of the town of Boston. But after just a paragraph, he returns to the topic of strange sights in the sky.

The 18th of this month two lights were seen near Boston, (as is before mentioned,) and a week after the like was seen again. A light like the moon arose about the N.E. point in Boston, and met the former at Nottles Island, and there they closed in one, and the parted, and closed and parted divers times, and so went over the hill in the island and vanished. Sometimes they shot out flames and sometimes sparkles. This was about eight of the clock in the evening, and was seen by many. About the same time a voice was heard upon the water between Boston and Dorchester, calling out in a most dreadful manner, boy, boy, come away, come away: and it suddenly shifted from one place to another a great distance, about twenty times. It was heard by divers godly persons. About 14 days after, the same voice in the same dreadful manner was heard by others on the other side of the town towards Nottles Island.

 

Writing after the facts, Winthrop made very little attempt at providing explanations for these occurrences. In the immediate journal entries there was only one bit that gave anything in the way of reasoning for what people saw:

These prodigies having some reference to the place where Captain Chaddock’s pinnace was blown up a little before, gave occasion of speech of that man who was the cause of it, who professed himself to have skill in necromancy, and to hav done some strange things in his way from Virginia hither, and was suspected to have murdered his master there; but the magistrates here had no notice of him till after he was blown up. This is to be observed that his fellows were all found, and others who were blown up in the former ship were also found, and others also who have miscarried by drowning, etc., have usually been found, but this man was never found.

 

Interested in finding out more? Consider visiting the MHS Library to work with the sources cited, or see the suggestions below for further reading. 

 

*The transcriptions of the documents in this post appear as they do in the published volumes cited below, typically with original spelling and punctuation intact.

 

 

Sources

Endicott family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Winthrop, John, The journal of John Winthrop, 1630-1649, Cambridge, Mass.: the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996.

Winthrop papers, vol. IV, Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1944.

 

Further Reading

Hall, David D., “A World of Wonders: The Mentality of the Supernatural in Seventeenth-Century New England,” Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 63 (1984), pp.239-274.

McKeown, Adam N., “Light Apparitions and the Shaping of Community in Winthrop’s ‘History of New England’,” Early American Literature, Vol. 47, No. 2, BETWEEN LITERATURE AND HISTORY (2012), pp.293-319.

 

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged

The First Publication of Phillis Wheatley

By Daniel T Hinchen, Reader Services

Recently, the MHS hosted a program called “No more, America,”* which featured a conversation with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Peter Galison, both of Harvard University. In it, the two men reimagined a 1773 debate between graduating Harvard seniors Theodore Parsons and Eliphalet Pearson who deliberated on the compatibility of slavery and “natural law.” In the program, Gates and Galison added a third contemporary voice to the argument, that of the then-enslaved Phillis Wheatley, the acclaimed poet who lived just over the Charles River from the two Harvard students.

Now, just over a week later, we recognize the anniversary of the first publication of one of Wheatley’s poems. “On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin” appeared on December 21, 1767, in the Newport Mercury, a Rhode Island weekly newspaper. According to Vincent Carretta in his 2011 biography of Wheatley, this poem was not published again during Wheatley’s lifetime.

When Wheatley submitted her poem to the Newport Mercury, she addressed a note to the printer which was to precede the poem.

Please to insert the following Lines, composed by a Negro Girl (belonging to one Mr. Wheatley of Boston) on the following Occasion, viz. Messrs Hussey and Coffin, as undermentioned, belonging to Nantucket, being bound from thence to Boston, narrowly escaped being cast away on Cape-Cod, in one of the late Storms; upon their Arrival, being at Mr. Wheatley’s, and, while at Dinner, told of their narrow Escape, this Negro Girl at the same Time ‘tending Table, heard the Relation, from which she composed the following verses.

On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin

Did Fear and Danger so perplex your Mind,

As made you fearful of the Whistling Wind?

Was it not Boreas knit his angry Brow

Against ? or did Consideration bow?

To lend you Aid, did not his Winds combine?

To stop your passage with a churlish Line,

Did haughty Eolus with Contempt look down

With Aspect windy, and a study’d Frown?

Regard them not; — the Great Supreme, the Wise,

Intends for something hidden from our Eyes.

Suppose the groundless Gulph had snatch’d away

Hussey and Coffin to the raging Sea;

Where wou’d they go? Where wou’d be their Abode?

With the Supreme and independent God,

Or made their Beds down in the Shades below,

Where neither Pleasure nor Conten can flow.

To Heaven their Souls with eager Raptures soar,

Enjoy the Bliss of him they wou’d adore.

Had the soft gliding Streams of Grace been near,

Some favourite Hope their fainting hearts to cheer,

Doubtless the Fear of Danger far had fled:

No more repeated Victory crown their Heads.

To see what materials the MHS holds related to Phillis Wheatley’s life and work, you can search our online catalog, ABIGAIL, then consider Visiting the Library, but be sure to consult our online calendar for upcoming holiday closures.

*Watch a recording of the event that took place at the MHS on 12 December 2018.

References

Carretta, Vincent, Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage, University of Georgia Press, 2011.

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged ,

Barbara Hillard Smith’s Diary, November 1918

By Lindsay Bina, Intern and Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, Reader Services

Today we return to the 1918 diary of Newton teenager Barbara Hillard Smith. You may read our introduction to the diary, and Barbara’s previous entries, here:

January | February | March | April | May 

June | July | August | September | October

As regular readers of the Beehive know, we are following Barbara throughout 1918 with monthly blog posts that present Barbara’s daily life — going to school, seeing friends, playing basketball, and caring for family members — in the words she wrote a century ago.

 November was both a regular and not-so-regular month for Barbara as she balanced school and babycare and social outings with news of the Great War — “Rumor peace was declared,” reads her entry on November 7th, sandwiched between “School” and “Senior Tea.” Then on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour … “Peace declared. Parade. Babies. Hair up<.”

>Here is Barbara’s November, day by day.

* * *

FRI. 1   NOVEMBER
School. Babies. Movies at Waltham

SAT. 2
Hung around all day.

SUN. 3
Sunday School. Mrs. R- sick. Cousin Alice here

MON. 4
School. Babies.

TUES. 5
School

WED. 6
School. Babies

THUR. 7
School. Rumor peace was declared. Senior Tea.

FRI. 8
School. Babies

SAT. 9
In town. Sailors dance with Ben

SUN. 10
Sunday School. Pete to Dinner

MON. 11
Peace declared. Parade. Babies. Hair up.

TUES. 12
No school. In town. Parade

WED. 13
School. Over to Pete’s

THUR. 14
School. Over to Peg’s

FRI. 15
School. Took care of Baby.

SAT. 16
Knitted madly. Spud took me to Sybil’s party.

SUN. 17
Church Sunday School. K. to dinner. Studied

MON. 18
School. Took care of baby

TUES. 19
School. Swimming

WED. 20
School. Took care of baby

THUR. 21
School. Swimming. Aunt Mabel came to see Grandmas

FRI. 22
School. Lecture with Mother. Wartime France. Babies.

SAT. 23
Hung around. Mrs. Reed’s. Cousin M. to supper. Heard Dr. A- was detained.

SUN. 24
Put in teacher’s training class. Bob Hayes home. Spud to supper.

MON. 25
School. Took care of sonny.

TUES. 26
School. Sick? Hung around in afternoon. Got report cards. Safe I guess.

WED. 27
School. Got out at 12. Went to Babies. Sick in evening

THUR. 28
Went to Muriel’s. Thanksgiving dinner. Sailor’s dance.

FRI. 29
In town. Up to babies. Dinner and Dance at Spud’s. Bed at 1:20

SAT. 30
Slept until 11:20. Saw “Seventeen” [adapted from the novel Seventeen by Booth Tarkington]

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff for further assistance.

*Please note that the diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original. The catalog record for the Barbara Hillard Smith collection may be found here.

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged

“Ffriends and Neighbors” : Intelligence and allegiance in early Plymouth

By Daniel Tobias Hinchen, Reader Services

Not long after I started working here in the library at the MHS I took an interest in 17th-century topics with the hope that I could better serve those researchers studying the time period by pointing them to specific collections relevant to their search. A specific collection that comes up time and again is the Winslow family papers II*, a small but very fascinating collection for its documentation of the late 17th century in and around Plymouth County, primarily from the vantage point of a family central to the history of that locale and including two of the early governors of the county, Edward and Josiah Winslow. For this post, I look at a single document from that collection which dates to 1675 at the outset of Metacom’s, or King Philip’s, War. This document came to my attention during a class visit in which it was used as a show & tell item by a colleague, and I have since used it myself. Until now, though, I was ignorant of its contents.

The letter displayed in various class visits, written by Plymouth governor Josiah Winslow to “Weetamoo and Ben her husband,” is only half the story, it turns out. Looking more closely, I found that there is an earlier letter contained on the same paper. The first letter is from a man named John Brown, writing to Gov. Winslow from Swansey to inform him about the movements of the local natives and the unrest that is taking hold. The second part is a draft of a letter that Winslow wrote to Weetamoo (Weetamoe, Weetamo), the female sachem of the Pocasset Wampanoag, encouraging her to remain friends of the Plymouth settlers and not be lured into alliance with Philip, her brother-in-law.

N.B. : These are only rough transcriptions. I did my best to retain the original spelling and punctuation (or lack of). Brackets [ ] indicate a best-guess; blank spots filled with underscoring _____ indicate missing text.


 

Swansey June 11: 1675

Sir  some lines of mine I understand came to your hand Unexpected to you and not intended by me the hast & Rudenes whereof I did intend to excuse to the person to whom I did direct it. the matter where of I still beleve for they have bin and are in arms to this day as appears by the witness of Inglish of Credit    yea this day there is above 60 double armed ^men  and they stand upon ther gard on reson is say they is because they heare you intend to send for phillip but they  have sent there wifes to Narrogansent all or some and an Indian told me this day That he saw 20 men came to phillip from Coweset side and they flock to him from Narroganset Coweset pocasset showomet Assowomset from whence ther Came 3 men ye Last nigh well armed after there Coming to phillips town & ower within night they gave us an Alarm by 2 guns & 1 in ye morning before day and ye continued warninge of ye drum and the above said Indian told me that he heard that ye passages betwixt tanton & us were garded by Indians and yt ye younger sort were much set Againts ye Inglish and this day one Indian this day Leift both work and wages saying he wase sent for to fight with ye Inglish within 2 dayes  the truth is they are in a posture of war  there has bin sene above 150 [togeathere at once]  how many in private there be we [kow not   but for] further intelligence ye bearer is able to informe  Sir I reit onely this by my Commision I have not power to set [awash] ye Lawes are unserten  ye providence of god hath prevented me from Weighting uppoun you for inlargement here in . theres not appointed a councell of your war in our town I thought good th to aquaint you^  here with I am in hast And Reit  your and my …  youres to serve

                                                                John Brown

 

On the back side of the folio – or the “back cover” of Brown’s missive is a small note that provides some geographic clarifications:

Narragansett.

Cowesett between ye Narragansett Country (properly so called) and Pawcatuck River

Pocasset – Tiverton

Shawomet – Barrington Warwick 

Assawomsett – Middleboro

 

Inside the folio we have the letter that Winslow addressed to the Pocasset leader based upon the intelligence he received from Brown a few days earlier.

 

To Weetamoo, and Ben her husband

Satchems of pocasset

Ffriends and Neighbors

I am informed yt phillip ye sachem of Mount hope contrary to his many promises and ingagements; and yt upon no ground provocation nor unfairness in the least from us, but meerly from his owne base groundles feare is Creating new trobles to himself & us; And hath [indeavored] to ingage you & your people with him, by intimations of notoriouse falshoods as if wee were secretly designeing mischeef to him, and you, such unmanly treacherouse practices as wee abhor to thinke of, and yt hee hath also _________________against you if you shall deny to help him; I am _____________[hath] prevayled very little [with] you, except it bee to some few of your giddy inconsiderate young men; if it bee fact, as I am willing to believe it may; you shall finde us allwayes redy to acknowledge & incourage your faith fullness, and protect you also so farr as in us lyeth from his pride & tirany; And if you Contynew faithfull, you shall assuredly reape ye fruite of it to your Comfort, when hee by his pride & treachery hath wrought his owne ruine. As a testimony of your contynued friendship I desire you will give us what intelligence you may have, or shall gather up, yt is of concernment, and you shall not finde mee ungratefull, who am and desire to contynew

your reall ffreind

Jos: Winslow

Marshfeild

June 15 ∙ 75

 

Again, there is some additional information on the facing page. First, is a block of text that serves as delivery instructions for Brown’s letter:

These ffor the Honnered Josiah Winslow Esquie Govenor of his Magtis Colony of New plymouth  These with speed at Marshfeild or plimouth

 

Another bit, written to the right of and perpendicular to this, reads:

Mr. Brown to Gove Winslow & the Gove to Weetamo 15th June 1675

 

A last piece of text, apparently added by Winslow, identifies his writing as a draft:

Swansey. June 11 ∙ 75

From Lieut. Jno Browne.

& a copie of mine to Weetamoo

 

Stay tuned for future posts here on the Beehive where I hope to provide more information about the characters involved with this correspondence. In the meantime, you can search our online catalog, ABIGAIL, to see what else we have about the early colonies, and then consider Visiting the Library to do some research!

*The Winslow family papers II, along with many other documents from the MHS Collection, is available digitally from the database “Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters” created by the UK-based company Adam Matthew Digital, accessible at the MHS and other participating libraries.

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged

Barbara Hillard Smith’s Diary, September 1918

By Lindsay Bina, Intern and Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, Reader Services

Today we return to the 1918 diary of Newton teenager Barbara Hillard Smith. You may read our introduction to the diary, and Barbara’s previous entries, here:

 

January | February | March | April

May | June | July | August

September | October | November | December

 

As regular readers of the Beehive know, we are following Barbara throughout 1918 with monthly blog posts that present Barbara’s daily life — going to school, seeing friends, playing basketball, and caring for family members — in the words she wrote a century ago. Here is Barbara’s September, day by day.

 

* * *

SUN. 1                                    SEPTEMBER

Boys came to church. Park in afternoon. Boys to supper

MON. 2                       LABOR DAY

Went up river with boys. Down to Spuds. K’s in evening.

TUES. 3

In town. Went to Keith’s with the gang. Up to farm with [Spud].

WED. 4

Hung around K’s for lunch. Wendell took us to Revere. Park in evening

THUR. 5

Peg’s for tennis. In town. Babe went home. Hospital with Dr. G-

FRI. 6

Peg came over. Pete is going to Lasell. Hurrah! Sick?

SAT. 7

Hung around. Felt rotten. Saw [Eli].

SUN. 8

Cousin Mildred to dinner. Over to Peg’s for supper. Ben is home.

MON. 9

School. Mrs. Reed’s

TUES. 10

School. Mrs. Reeds

WED. 11

School. In town

THUR. 12

School. Mrs. Reed’s. Played tennis.

FRI. 13

No school. It rained. Movies [+ overnight with] Lane’s. Babe + Mother went

SAT. 14

Took flowers up to Bil Sybil + saw Bob. That boy was awfully sick

SUN. 15

Church and Sunday School. Went up to see Bob with K. Spud to supper

MON. 16

School. Staid at home and studied.

TUES. 17

School. Peg and I went to see Bob.

WED. 18

School. Went over to Pegs. Rained hard

THUR. 19

School. Went to Surgical Dressings.

FRI. 20

School. Went down to Connies. Night at Pegs

SAT. 21

Down at station at 5:45. In town. Pegs for a dance

SUN. 22

Sunday School. Came down with influenza.

MON. 23

In bed. Dr. G- came. Mother came home.

TUES. 24

In bed. Feel rotten. School closed till Monday.

WED. 25

Got up and went out. Felt rotten.

THUR. 26

Went over to Pegs. Hung around. Sick?

FRI. 27

Tenn Went over to Pegs

SAT. 28

Tennis at Pegs

SUN. 29

Church. No Sunday School. Over to Pegs in afternoon

MON. 30

In town. Surgical Dressings. Spud very sick

* * *

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff for further assistance.

 

 *Please note that the diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original. The catalog record for the Barbara Hillard Smith collection may be found here.

 

 

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged

Barbara Hillard Smith’s Diary, August 1918

By by Lindsay Bina, Intern and Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, Reader Services

Today we return to the 1918 diary of Newton teenager Barbara Hillard Smith. You may read our introduction to the diary, and Barbara’s previous entries, here:

 

January | February | March | April

May | June | July | August

September | October | November | December

 

As regular readers of the Beehive know, we are following Barbara throughout 1918 with monthly blog posts that present Barbara’s daily life — going to school, seeing friends, playing basketball, and caring for family members — in the words she wrote a century ago. Here is Barbara’s August, day by day.

 

Revere Beach Reservation, Boston Metropolitan Park Commission, 1898.

 

* * *

THUR. 1                      AUGUST

Went to Sandwitch [sic]. K-Dow came. The double wedding

FRI. 2

Basketball. Swimming

SAT. 3

Raspberrying at Governor’s. Swimming. It was awfully rough

SUN. 4

Sailors came. Swimming. Boat Ride.

MON. 5

Rainy. High Jump. Mother went to Boston. The Alden’s came.

TUES. 6

Basketball. The Alden’s took us to the movies. Got in dutch.

WED. 7

Hiked part way to Hillcrest. Hot. Mother came home.

THUR.8

Started on hike. Landed in North Sandwitch

FRI. 9

Rained. Played Hide and Go seek in Barn

SAT. 10

Wrote letters. Sick?

SUN. 11

Rainy. Hike in afternoon. Sang at A.E. Lee’s in morning.

MON. 12

The Kids went for a long walk. They went swimming

TUES. 13

Climbed Mt. Chocorua. Tired as the deuce. Heard Bob had appendicitis.

WED. 14

Hung around. Rested. Wildcat episode. Wrote Bob.

THUR. 15

Climbed Israel. Hurt my knees.

FRI. 16

Came home. Good to get there

SAT. 17

Hung around. Cold as the deuce

SUN. 18

Wrote letters. A lot of company.

MON. 19

Went to Merideth. Swimming

TUES. 20

Got ready for a good time to-morrow. Shore supper. Dr. Johnson came

WED. 21

Edwina’s birthday party

THUR. 22

Breezy Island

FRI. 23

Babe came back to my tent

SAT. 24

Basketball. Dr. Johnson came again. War canoe came

SUN. 25

Lakeport to church. Swimming

MON. 26

Acted like […] the deuce. Swimming

TUES. 27

Mt. Washington. Met Conney and Betty Arnold

WED. 28

Not much doing. Canoe practice. Swimming

THUR. 29

Voted for […]. Hung around. School Party

FRI. 30

Packed. Prizes awarded. I got the cup. I don’t see how

SAT. 31

Came home. Babe with me. Otis and Spud took us up to park

* * *

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff for further assistance.

 

 *Please note that the diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original. The catalog record for the Barbara Hillard Smith collection may be found here.

 

 

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged

Barbara Hillard Smith’s Diary, July 1918

By Lindsay Bina, Intern and Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, Reader Services

Today we return to the 1918 diary of Newton teenager Barbara Hillard Smith. You may read our introduction to the diary, and Barbara’s previous entries, here:

January | February | March | April

May | June | July | August

September | October | November | December

 

As regular readers of the Beehive know, we are following Barbara throughout 1918 with monthly blog posts that present Barbara’s daily life — going to school, seeing friends, playing basketball, and caring for family members — in the words she wrote a century ago. Here is Barbara’s June, day by day.

 

* * *

MON. 1                       JULY

Came to Camp.

TUES. 2

Got word that Peg was operated on. Unpacked. Swimming

WED. 3

Hung around. Swimming. Went to Hillcrest

Image from Tileston’s off-hand sketches in Boston Harbor: Pen and Ink Drawings, Centennial 1876.


THUR. 4                      INDEPENDENCE DAY

Governor’s Island picnic. Drunk! Raspberries! Swimming

FRI. 5

Went to [Wiers]. Swimming. Run Sheep Run.

SAT. 6

Played Basketball. Swimming

SUN. 7

Hung around. Swimming.

MON. 8

Went to Merideth. Swimming

TUES. 9

Basketball. Swimming

WED. 10

Pete + Babe [start] for Reg’s wedding. Swimming

THUR. 11

Went to Haunted House. Libby + Rosamond came. Swimming.

FRI. 12

Bear Island

SAT. 13

Basket Ball. Canoeing. Thunder Storm

SUN. 14

Rehearsed for play. Swimming. Powder fight.

MON. 15

Went Blueberrying. Swimming

TUES. 16

Peg got after the skunk. Uncle Sam. Swimming. Cake. Play.

WED. 17

Hot as the dickens. Mother went home.

THUR. 18

Col. Cummings Sick?

FRI. 19

Walked down Boulevard. Swimming

SAT. 20

Hung around

SUN. 21

Went to church. Song service.

MON. 22

P The Hiems took us to the movies. Swimming

TUES. 23

The Streeter’s came. Went Raspberrying on Governor’s Island

WED. 24

Basketball. Swimming

THUR. 25

Sprained my finger. Went by ice houses. Supper on the [stove].

FRI. 26

Basketball. Couldn’t play. [Streiter’s] went home. Pinnicle over night

SAT. 27

Hung around and […]

SUN. 28

Hung around. Swimming

MON. 29

Canoeing. Swimming. Uncle Freddie, Miss A- + Mr R-S [show]

TUES. 30

Basketball. Swimming

WED. 31

[no entry]

* * *

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff for further assistance.

 

 *Please note that the diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original. The catalog record for the Barbara Hillard Smith collection may be found here.

 

 

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged

Barbara Hillard Smith’s Diary, June 1918

By Lindsay Bina, Intern and Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, Reader Services

Today we return to the 1918 diary of Newton teenager Barbara Hillard Smith. You may read our introduction to the diary, and Barbara’s previous entries, here:

 

January | February | March | April

May | June | July | August

September | October | November | December

 

As regular readers of the Beehive know, we are following Barbara throughout 1918 with monthly blog posts that present Barbara’s daily life — going to school, seeing friends, playing basketball, and caring for family members — in the words she wrote a century ago. Here is Barbara’s June, day by day.

 

* * *

SAT. 1                         JUNE

Swimming. May [Fête]. Hot as the deuce

SUN. 2

Went to Winthrop

MON. 3

School. Babies

TUES. 4

School. Babies

WED. 5

School. Babies

THUR. 6

School. Swimming Exhibition

FRI. 7

School. Went up River and to Park.

SAT. 8

Babies. In town with Peg.

SUN. 9

Hung around. Commencement Vespers

MON. 10

School. Babies. Class Night at Lasell

TUES. 11

School. Sick? Mother with Cousin Bert

WED. 12

School. Babies

THUR. 13

School. Babies

FRI. 14

School. Babies

SAT. 15

In Town. Wellesley with Peg. Dance at Spuds

SUN. 16

Church. S. School. Mrs. Moody to dinner

MON. 17

School. Babies

TUES. 18

School. Babies. Got a boil.

WED. 19

School. Riding with Cousin Bert. Peg over Night.

THUR. 20

French Exam. Mother’s Birthday. Headache. Pegs. Almost Sick

FRI. 21

Latin Exam. Tennis at Pegs

SAT. 22

Cooked. Pegs. Party at Posies. Dancing at Garden

SUN. 23

Sunday School. Peg’s over night.

MON. 24

Geometry Exam. Cleaned Closet. Peg’s for eighth grade party.

TUES. 25

In town with Mrs. Dow. Cousin Alice’s for supper. Met Babe

WED. 26

In town to the Dr. Dill. K’s for supper. Study club affair

THUR. 27

DIn town. Worked with Platt.

FRI. 28

Cleaned. Dentist. Dinner with Platt. Saw him off.

SAT. 29

Shampoo. Aunt Mable’s. Said goodbye to Stewarts

SUN. 30

Church. Sunday School. Riding with [Gathaman’s]. Packed.

* * *

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff for further assistance.

 

 *Please note that the diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original. The catalog record for the Barbara Hillard Smith collection may be found here.

 

 

 

Posted in From Our Collections Tagged