Daily journal of Milford High School

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0097-Item 0050

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

This daily journal of Milford High School in Milford, Massachusetts, contains autograph entries chronicling the daily thoughts and activities of its students in 1852.

The journal of Milford High School contains autograph entries written by the students. Each student wrote daily in both the morning and afternoon for approximately one week. Some students kept entries for several different weeks. The entries were dated with the day of the week and month, but the numerical dates given are often incorrect.

The entries document the students’ thoughts and opinions of the curriculum and each other as well as the daily activities at the school including lessons, recitations, and recess. The teacher also led the students in singing and prayer. The student body was divided into multiple classes, and not all students studied the same subjects or at the same level. Subjects studied include grammar, writing, reading, spelling, arithmetic, algebra, chemistry, physiology, astronomy, geography, philosophy, Latin, French, German, drawing, music, and "partnership."

The students signed their names at the end of the last entry they wrote. The students who kept entries in this volume were Ellen Carpenter, Sarah Janette Dodge, Edwin L. Willis, Marion Parkhurst, L. Taft, Georgia Anne Danik (?), Susan W. Brigham, M. E. Whitmore, F. Dean, E. J. Kilborn, Helen P. Eames, Phebe A. Yorry, P. Whitmore, F. M. Cheney, Mary L. Barks, P. B. Cook, Melissa Maria Perry, H. C. Bullard, and Hellen M. Pond.

Dates

Creation: 1852 January 24-October 22

Creator

Milford High School (Milford, Mass.) (Organization)

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/

Historical Note

Milford High School was founded on November 12, 1850, in Milford, Massachusetts. Until 1852, Rev. Elias Nason served as its teacher and S. Adelaide Scott assisted him, also teaching some classes. At the start of the summer term in 1852, Mr. Nason was replaced by Alfred Washington Pike, an experienced teacher and graduate of Dartmouth. He taught at Milford High School for only one year.

Education in the town of Milford was overseen by the General School Committee. The town was divided into twelve districts until 1854, and all but one had its own schoolhouse for the lower, or grammar, school. At the time this journal was written, the town of Milford had circa 1,000 "educable children," children between the ages of three and 16. The high school had approximately sixty students, both male and female. School was in session Monday through Saturday.

Adin Ballou,History of the Town of Milford, Worcester County, Massachusetts, from Its First Settlement to 1881(Boston: Franklin Press, 1882).Additional historical information derived from the collection.

Extent

1 volume (178 pages) ; 21 cm

Additional Description

Abstract

This daily journal of Milford High School in Milford, Massachusetts, contains autograph entries chronicling the daily thoughts and activities of its students in 1852.

Source

Purchase, 1957.

Related Materials in this Repository

This item forms part of MSS 0097 Diaries, Journals, and Ships' Logs collection.

Publication Note

University of Delaware. Library. Self works : diaries, scrapbooks, and other autobiographical efforts : catalog of an exhibition, August 19, 1997-December 18, 1997 : guide to selected sources. Newark, Del. : Special Collections, Hugh M. Morris Library, University of Delaware Library, 1997.