MSS 0097. Diaries, Journals, & Ships' Logs

This commonplace volume of verse and quotations was likely created by Rebecca Bailey while at school in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, in 1852. While most of the material was copied from popular hymns, poetry, and other literature, Bailey may have written some of the poetry.

This logbook chronicles the voyage of the fishing schooner Arabia from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to the Western Banks of Newfoundland in September 1908.

This volume, entitled “Arbres de l’Amérique,” consists of 157 original pencil drawings (exact copies reduced to one third of the originals) of engraving taken from paintings by P.J. Redouté and Pancrace Bessa done for Francois-Andre Michaux’s North American Sylva, Paris, 1817-1819.

This mid-nineteenth century autograph album belonged to Mary F. Armstrong of Newark, Delaware, and contains original or transcribed poems about friendship signed by her female friends. Many of the contributors are from Delaware.

This volume, entitled Aurea Dicta (Latin, “Golden Words”), is an illuminated manuscript containing a collection of hymns and poems with illustrations throughout. It was bound by Oldach Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1914.

Eighteenth-century English manuscript recipe book owned by Mary Baker, containing approximately 300 cookery and medical recipes.

Matilda Baker of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, kept this diary between May 1857 and March 1858, recording information about social visits, her work habits, and events taking place in Philadelphia. She also recorded information about railroad shares, bonds, and other financial investments held by herself and other women from 1854 to 1880.

Short account of activities at a World War I cargo operation located at "Southern Railroad pier No. 4".

These three bound diaries were kept by Delaware resident Jeannie Groome Black during her travels in Europe with a group of ten Delawareans from October 13, 1890, to November 25, 1891.

This single bound volume was compiled by Dr. Samuel Henry Black between 1810 and 1844, containing transcribed quotations, prose, and poetry; agricultural memorandums (1815); and an open letter in which he declined to run for the Delaware General Assembly (1821).

Fictionalized journal of Charles Boss describing his frontier life and encounters with Indians while serving in the United States Army from 1866 to 1884.

This journal documents the life of nineteenth-century Vermont native and lawyer Lucien Cyrus Boynton, as well as his introspective musings on religion, nature, and philosophy during the period 1835-1853.

This volume contains an autobiographical sketch of John C. Brinck’s childhood in upstate New York, mercantile career in New York City, and travels to the Midwest, covering the period between 1811 and the early 1890s.

This diary was kept by soldier Edward E. Brown of Company B, 35th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army, during the Philippine-American war, for the period 1899-1901.

This copybook of mathematical exercises was created by Ann “Nancy” W. Burton, likely a resident of Sussex County, Delaware, between 1815 and 1820. The volume contains rules, examples, tables, and applications of mathematical principles.

This volume is a receipt book kept by the Boston, Massachusetts, shipping firm of Thompson and Gridley for the period 1758-1765 and is interspersed with the diary of Robert Capen. The diary was written in 1811 and 1812. The entries document the weather and wind direction as well as occurances in the town of Canton, Massachusetts. There is also a single account for Samuel Capen of Canton to Robert Capen, for the period 1810-1812.

American student Ethel G. Carothers wrote this diary while she was studying music and German in Dresden, Germany, between March 1895 and January 1897.

In this diary, Walter Samuel Carpenter chronicled his life in Valparaíso, Chile, while working for the DuPont Company from 1909 to 1910.

This bound volume is a typed transcript of a log for the bark Rambler kept by Daniel A. Chappell, the ship's cooper. It documents a Pacific-bound whaling voyage out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the period 1852-1855.

Charles Herbert’s journal chronicles his time as a prisoner of the English during the Revolutionary War. It describes his daily activities and the hardships of prison. Many sections of the diary have been written in code. A cipher is provided.

This volume contains Frederick D. Chester’s research notes on insects collected between 1890 and 1895 in Delaware.

This journal documents the return voyage of S. Christian from Liverpool, England, to New York City on the liner Campania after a sightseeing trip to Europe.