MSS 0097. Diaries, Journals, & Ships' Logs

This 1909 bound typescript manuscript was prepared by George G. Clark to commemorate his 1908 trip with Charles H. Cummings. Their travel from New York City to Norway by steamer and rail, along with details of experiences in many European locales along the way, is recounted in this travel narrative.

Journal kept by the passenger John Clarke aboard the ship Governor Morton documenting the trip from New York to San Francisco between March 12, 1852 and December 20, 1852.

This typed transcript of a diary kept by Delaware College student Joseph Cleaver for the period 1853-1854 describes student life at the college, the curriculum, and Cleaver’s involvement in the Athenaean Literary Society.

Official log book kept by William John Cavendish Clifford of the British Royal Navy aboard the HMS Undaunted describing the ship's travels through ports in St. Helena and Sierra Leone from November 3, 1830, to February 10, 1834.

This booklet contains miscellaneous, handwritten notes kept by Delaware College professor Elisha Conover, for the period 1897-1899. The notes consist of lists of expenditures by month during the two-year time period and undated entries on various subjects, such as etiquette and literature.

This collection consists of the 1857 Board of Officers (First Regiment of Rifles, Third Brigade, First Division, Pennsylvania Volunteers) constitution, bylaws, and resolutions as well as the signatures and addresses of the officers. Also included are recipes for inks, medicines, cements, pastes, dyes, wines, colognes, and waxes. There are 21 pages of additional recipes and treatments for various medical conditions.

Thomas Coode’s nineteenth-century manuscript recipe book contains instructions for domestic and trade processes ranging from plate cleaning and preserving meat to preparing fireworks and varnishes. The volume also features notes on book-binding and glazing mezzotint prints.

This nineteenth-century copybook and scrapbook was kept by student (and later teacher) Georgina Maria Cooper of Hollandsville, Delaware. It contains pages of copied phrases completed when Cooper was in school, poetry clippings, copied lists of deaths and marriages in Kent County, Delaware, and a list of her students in 1871.

This twelve volume set of diaries was kept by Indiana tradesman William Bird Cowan between 1839 and 1877. Each volume features brief entries about local events, weather observations, business trips taken to other towns, and household tasks.

This travel diary documents the honeymoon tour of continental Europe taken by American Harriet S. Crothers in the fall of 1846. Entries describe tourist activities she and her husband undertook while visiting major cities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Czechoslovakia.

This travel diary belonging to American foreign language instructor Clementina Dalcour documents her European travels between 1891 and 1903, including travel in Paris, Antwerp, and Brussels. Some entries, such as those written in Paris, are in French.

Personal journal kept by Captain Arthur Darley of the British Royal Navy aboard the HMS Electra describing his travels throughout Bermuda, the West Indies, Jamaica, Honduras, Colombia, Havana, Belize, and Galveston, Texas, from January 1, 1842 through February 3, 1843.

These diaries, contained in four volumes, highlight daily life and travel to Wyoming, social activities, and real estate business, primarily in Iowa and Wyoming between 1851 and 1906. Individuals named B. B. David, E. C. David, and William W. Smith produced three of these four volumes. The final compiler of the diaries is unknown.

Philadelphia chemist John Davis’s manuscript book is filled with medicinal formulae and numerous laid-in receipts and household hints. There are over 135 items as varied as medicinal receipts, graduation announcements, poetry, sketches, and a silhouette.

Ship's log kept by George Dodds [Dods] aboard the snow Susana documenting the voyage from Newport, Rhode Island, to Havana, Cuba, from December 21, 1799, to March 20, 1800.

The journal is a personal narrative of James S. Doran, who served in the capacity of engineer on several steamships, including theMerrimack, the Thomas Kelso, the San Pelago, and the City of Mexico from May 17, 1866 through April 25, 1872.

This journal belonged to P. B. Durfee and chronicles two trips from Providence, Rhode Island, to Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked as a clerk during the 1860s.

This medical journal was kept by Dr. Francis Daniels Edgerton for the Connecticut Industrial School for Girls and documents his diagnosis and treatment of the students' medical conditions from 1875 to 1883.

This commonplace book was compiled by Eliza Howe Evertson Saltus in the mid-nineteenth century and passed on to her son Edgar Saltus. The volume contains clippings of poetry, short stories, news, and local events taken from various sources as well as handwritten notes and passages from various works such as Hamlet and the Bible.

This bound volume of original graphite sketches, notes, and nature prints is attributed to Harriet Elliot (d. 1825), daughter of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto. Minto House and the surrounding landscape in Roxburghshire, Scotland, are the subjects of this sketchbook, with contents dated between 1807-1808. The volume also includes copied verse and studies of geometry and perspective.

This volume chronicles four voyages made by the Brig Romance between Baltimore, Maryland, and Navassa Island in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. The creator, identified as “E.L.L.K.” (possibly Louis King), wrote the entire volume in poetic verse.

Diary written by H. A. Emerson, nineteenth century paper mill owner in Franklin, Massachusetts. Entries focus on paper mill production and success, weather, local social events, family travels, with brief mentions of national political affairs in 1864.

This mid-eighteenth century physician’s notebook, most likely English in origin, contains medicinal and food receipts, prescriptions, and contemporary treatments for several common illnesses.

This small notebook contains brief, sporadic notes taken by Newark, Delaware, resident Mary J. Evans from 1904 to 1906. The entries document monetary transactions, home life, and events in the community over the two-year period.