Showing 11 - 20 of 31 Records
Mary Farnham Diary, 1862-1863
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- Creator: Farnham, Mary Elizabeth Johnson, 1828-1913.
- Date Created: 1862-1863
- Description: Mary Elizabeth (Johnson) Farnham, the daughter of Ezekiel and Nancy (Rodgers) Johnson, was born in Bath, NH, on January 19, 1828. She came to Bradford with her parents at a young age and was educated at Bradford Academy and the Newbury Seminary. On December 25, 1849, she married Roswell Farnham (1827-1903) in St. Albans, Vt. They returned to Bradford to teach in the Bradford Academy, Farnham as the teacher of painting and French, and her husband as principal of the academy. The couple joined the Bradford Congregational Church in 1854 and participated in a number of its activities: both Farnhams taught in the church’s Sunday school, and Mary Farnham held a chair on its music committee and was active in its missionary efforts. Farnham spent several months during the winter of 1862-63 in Union camps near Fairfax Court House and Wolf Run Shoals, VA, with her husband, who had been appointed Lieutenant Colonel and placed in command of the 12th Vermont Volunteer Regiment. Farnham returned to Vermont in April 1863 and her husband was discharged later that year, after which he entered into a career in politics. When Roswell Farnham was elected governor of Vermont in 1880, Mary Farnham became the state’s first lady and played an active role in gubernatorial social events. Farnham was involved in a number of civic organizations in her town, including Bradford’s Relief Corps. She helped found the Ladies’ Public Library and was its librarian for many years. Her interest in literature led her to enroll in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Course, from which she graduated in 1884. She went on to earn one hundred and forty seals on her diploma and was recognized for this achievement at the 1906 Chautauqua Assembly in Chautauqua, NY. Three of Farnham’s four children lived to adulthood: Charles Cyrus Farnham (1864–1937), Florence Mary Osgood (1866–1958), and William M. Farnham (1869–1927). Her first child, Roswell Phelps Farnham Jr., died in infancy in 1861. Mary Farnham died on June 13, 1913, having suffered a stroke two weeks prior. Topics in Farnham’s diary include living conditions in Union camps and towns near the front lines, the roles and expectations of women during the American Civil War, Washington D.C. in the 1860s, mid-century modes of travel, and health and medicine during the Civil War.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Long Pond: A History and a Diary - Westmore, VT, 1886-1903
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- Date Created: 1886-1903
- Description: The Long Pond Westmore diary, which spans the years 1889 to 1903, contains a partial history of a summer camp on Long Pond in Westmore, Vt., as well as inventories of the camp’s supplies and accounts of property maintenance and recreational activities undertaken by its caretakers. Topics in this diary include local flora and fauna and outdoor recreational activities, such as hiking and fishing.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Mary Jean Simpson Diary, 1929
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- Creator: SimpsonMaryJean, 1888-1977.
- Date Created: 1929
- Description: This diary is not as full as Mary Jean’s typical year but records evidence of her daily life and some fascinating moments in American history. In this diary she is busy with work but has time for several Women’s group meetings including the Daughters of the American Revolution dinner and a Women’s Union meeting in New Orleans. She witnessed the inauguration of Herbert Hoover, and her brother, John, mentions in passing some fears of the stock market in mid-October. Her summer in Vermont is quite brief but is full of gardening, dinners, and traveling around the state to speak at women’s groups. Topics of interest include American Politics, especially presidential elections and the 1929 market crash; Women’s groups in the early 20th century; and travel by train and automobile.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Mary Jean Simpson Diary, 1944
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- Creator: SimpsonMaryJean, 1888-1977.
- Date Created: 1944
- Description: This diary begins with Mary Jean getting a cast on her ankle and missing out on work and student meetings in the beginning of the year. Throughout the spring she deals with women’s issues on campus, including a past student being tried by the Washington Army Board for Insubordination and a rejection by students of the Home Economics courses. Discussion of regular lectures on conduct to her female students occur in this diary. Mary Jean also details assisting her students in getting interviews for medical school and nursing positions. Throughout the year she also mentions going to YWCA events, Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Gamma Kappa meetings, and occasional events with UVM’s President Millis. In September she included an article written about a lecture she gave to students on poor morals, underage drinking, and student promiscuity. The end of Mary Jean’s year includes descriptions of the holidays, mentions of distance created by her brother John, and worry about the grave war news. Topics in this diary include medical care and education, Vermont food, church life in Vermont, women’s issues and morals in the mid-20th century, women’s groups, and World War II.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Mary Jean Simpson Diary, 1950
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- Creator: SimpsonMaryJean, 1888-1977.
- Date Created: 1950
- Description: This diary features Mary Jean’s church and social life most prominently, with only some mention of her work on the Mortar Board society and Kake Walk affairs. Regular church attendance and the wedding of Ruth Schoppes are described throughout the diary. Mary Jean also writes a longer entry about her 62nd birthday, enjoying the festivity of it but reflecting on her age. Topics in this diary include UVM honors society programs, Kake Walk, Vermont Church life, discussion of aging, and Vermont weather patterns.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Mary Jean Simpson Diary, 1926
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- Creator: SimpsonMaryJean, 1888-1977.
- Date Created: 1926
- Description: Mary Jean accepts a job as a Bill Clerk for the United States Senate, and she and her mother make the move from Vermont to Washington D.C. in this Diary. Mentions of Senatorial legislation, visits from ambassadors, and national events such as the impeachment of federal judge George English are peppered throughout descriptions of her new job. Much of her diary includes descriptions of dinner parties with coworkers, politicians, family, and friends; visits to the movies, operas, theater, and live music; and shopping for new clothes, especially hats. Mary Jean and her mother also return to Vermont for several months; transit by train and automobile play a large role in her life in 1926. Topics include: 1920s US Senate legislation, Media: Movies, theater, opera, and music in the 20s, early 20th century transportation: trains and automobiles, Women’s fashion in the 1920s, Women’s Club Organizations, Political social life in early 20th century, Vermont and Northeastern Coastal geography, Presbyterian church life.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Mary Jean Simpson Diary, 1938
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- Creator: SimpsonMaryJean, 1888-1977.
- Date Created: 1938
- Description: This diary discusses Mary Jean’s time as Dean of Women at UVM and getting involved in student and faculty life on campus. She goes to meetings and events at Southwick Hall, attends alumni events, and meets President Bailey. It also focuses on the health of her mother and Mary Jean’s friendship with Elspeth, her mother’s caretaker. Illness takes a center stage in this diary, as Mary Jean, her mother, Elspeth, and her brother John all deal with various sicknesses throughout the year. In the winter, Mary Jean details her experience with serums and intravenous iron supplements to combat illness. Lively descriptions of visits with family and friends and visits to church are emphasized during the various holidays throughout the year. Topics in this diary include transportation and automobile innovations, faculty and student life at UVM, health and medicine in the mid-20th century, weather patterns, and Vermont social life.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Mary Jean Simpson Diary, 1933
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- Creator: SimpsonMaryJean, 1888-1977.
- Date Created: 1933
- Description: This diary records the end of Mary Jean’s time as Bill Clerk of the Senate including mentions of debates over prohibition, filibusters, and night sessions. The impactful deaths of President Calvin Coolidge and Senator Porter H. Dale (in office) are also recorded in this diary. In the later summer, after the close of Congress, she describes a significant amount of travel around Vermont to make speeches to various women’s groups. A December 13th entry notes Mary Jean’s appointment as Women’s Director under the Civil Works Authority (C.W.A.), a New Deal job creation program. The common topics of daily life including local Craftsbury news; church events; fun and entertainment activities like attending plays, movies, and speeches; housework and chores; the weather; preparing food; and spending time with family and friends are present. Topics of wider interest include American politics, women's groups’ meetings, illnesses and treatments, automobile travel, and financial records.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Mandana White Goodenough Diary, 1844-1846, 1860-1861
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- Creator: Goodenough, Mandana White, 1826-1924.
- Date Created: 1844-1846\, 1860-1861
- Description: Mandana White was born on January 15, 1826 in Calais, Vt. to Jesse and Lovisa (Tucker) White. Between 1844 and 1845, she taught school in Marshfield and attended the Lebanon Liberal Institute in Lebanon, NH. She married Eli Goodenough in Calais on April 20, 1845, and the couple had four children that lived to adulthood: Myron Alonzo, Flora Gertrude (m. Whipple), Edward Tucker, and Charles Davis. The Goodenoughs lived and worked on a large farm in Hardwick. After her husband’s death in 1860, Goodenough sold the family farm and purchased a smaller one in Walden, where she raised her four children. By 1870, she and her daughter, Flora, had moved to Barre, where Goodenough’s parents then resided; Goodenough lived with them for a time before moving into the house next door. Goodenough made three trips to Oregon in the latter part of her life to visit her son Charles and daughter, Flora, who both lived in the state after 1873. She also moved several times in later life, beginning with her return to Walden by 1900. Around 1910, she moved to Plainfield, where she worked for a time for the Red Cross. In 1920, she moved to Hardwick to be closer to her sons, Myron and Edward. At the time of Goodenough’s death on April 21, 1924, she was living with her widowed daughter, Flora, in Hardwick. Topics in this diary include employment opportunities for women in the 1840s, courtship and marriage, illness and death, and religious beliefs and practices in mid-nineteenth-century Vermont.
- Parent Collections: Diaries
Mary Jean Simpson Diary, 1939
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- Creator: SimpsonMaryJean, 1888-1977.
- Date Created: 1939
- Description: In this diary Mary Jean spends the spring semester at UVM attending YWCA meetings, a Committee on the Worlds Fair, traveling to a Dean’s convention in Cleveland Ohio, visiting John in NYC, going to Phi Beta Kappa events, sorority luncheons, faculty meetings, and attending various student life events. Due to the busy nature of her life, some weeks in this diary are akin to a daily planner for Mary Jean. During the summer months, Mary Jean regularly goes to church, has dinner with friends, works on the Fletcher Farm, and occasionally goes out to see movies. Returning to work at UVM in the fall leaves her with a busy schedule involved in student social affairs and faculty business, once again attending regular meetings and conferences including the Ladies of Faculty, Phi Beta Kappa, and the YWCA. Ending out her year is a lively description of time spent with family around the Christmas holiday. Topics in this diary include student and faculty life at UVM, with a focus on Pan-Hellenic life, church and social life in Vermont, and brief mentions of locomotive transportation.
- Parent Collections: Diaries