Diaries

The Diaries collection provides access to more than thirty fully transcribed and searchable diaries from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century. The collection includes diaries documenting student life at UVM in different eras, the 1918-1919 flu epidemic, the civil war, life in Italy in the early 1860’s, courtship and marriage, social life, religious life, employment opportunities for women, travel, life at a summer cottage, and more.

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Showing 1 - 10 of 48 Records

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48 Diaries. 19 Burlington (Vt. : Town). 17 Ambassadors' spouses -- Italy -- Turin -- Diaries. 17 Ambassadors' spouses. 17 Diplomatic and consular service, American -- Italy. 17 Diplomatic and consular service, American. 17 Italy -- Turin. 17 Italy. 17 Manners and customs. 17 Marsh, Caroline Crane, 1816-1901. 17 Savoy, House of. 17 Turin (Italy) -- History -- Sources. 17 Turin (Italy) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century. 16 Craftsbury (Vt. : Town). 16 Marsh, George P. (George Perkins), 1801-1882. 16 Simpson Mary Jean 1888-1977. 16 University of Vermont 9 Catholicism. 6 Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 1807-1882. 4 Women -- Diaries. 3 Italy -- Pegli. 3 Lamson, Genieve, 1887-1966. 3 Randolph (Vt. : Town). 3 Students -- Diaries. 3 Students -- Vermont -- Burlington. 3 University of Vermont -- Students. 2 Estcourt, Caroline Bucknal, Lady, 1809-1886. 2 Italy -- Como (Province). 2 Italy -- Florence. 2 Rattazzi, Urbano, 1808-1873. 2 Ricasoli, Bettino, 1809-1880. 2 United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives. 2 United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons. 2 Way, Chester Murray, 1897-1973. 1 Africa. 1 Arms, Willard. 1 Aspromonte, Battle of, Italy, 1862. 1 Atlantic Ocean. 1 Blackwell, Anna, active 1875-1876. 1 Blinn Charles Henry 1843-1926. 1 Blinn, Charles Henry, 1843-1926. 1 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806-1861. 1 Calais (Vt. : Town). 1 Cavour, Camillo Benso, conte di, 1810-1861 1 Cavour, Camillo Benso, conte di, 1810-1861. 1 Courtship. 1 Dorset (Vt. : Town). 1 Fairlee (Vt. : Town). 1 Families of military personnel. 1 Farnham Roswell 1827-1903. 1 Farnham, Mary Elizabeth Johnson, 1828-1913. 1 Farnham, Roswell, 1827-1903. 1 Fisher, Henry Osman, 1872-1954. 1 Fishing. 1 Garibaldi, Giuseppe 1807-1882. 1 Goodenough, Eli, 1821-1860. 1 Goodenough, Mandana White, 1826-1924. 1 Hardwick (Vt. : Town). 1 Hiking. 1 Hudson, James, Sir, 1810-1885. 1 Kasson, John A. 1 Kelley, Mary Susan Davis, 1866-1917. 1 Kent, Cephas, Jr., 1754-1813. 1 Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834. 1 Maria Pia, Queen, consort of Luís I, King of Portugal, 1847-1911. 1 Marriage. 1 Marsh George P., (George Perkins), 1801-1882. 1 Medical education. 1 Merino sheep. 1 Military camps -- Virginia. 1 Novello, Clara, 1818-1908. 1 Pomeroy, John, 1764-1844. 1 Powers, Hiram, 1805-1873. 1 Root, Erastus, 1789-1829. 1 Soldiers -- Vermont -- Diaries. 1 South America. 1 Stillman, William James, 1828-1901. 1 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896. 1 Switzerland. 1 Trent Affair, 1861. 1 United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Personal narratives. 1 University of Vermont College of Medicine. 1 Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy 1820-1878. 1 Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy, 1820-1878. 1 Westmore (Vt. : Town). 1 Wheeler, David Hilton, 1829-1902. 1 Wilderness, Battle of the, Va., 1864.

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Miniature of Erastus Root Diary, 1815-1818
Erastus Root Diary, 1815-1818
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    • Creator: Root, Erastus, 1789-1829.
    • Date Created: 1815-1818
    • Description: Erastus Root was born on January 9, 1789 to Timothy and Patience (Gleason) Barber Root in Guilford, Vt. After two years of study under the tutelage of Rev. Jason Chamberlain, Root enrolled at Williams College in 1809, before transferring to the University of Vermont in 1811 to continue studying with Chamberlain, who had been elected UVM’s Professor of Learned Languages in the interim. Root graduated from UVM with a bachelor’s degree in 1814 and spent the next three years studying medicine: he began his studies with Dr. Willard Arms of Brattleboro for a year and a half, then returned to UVM in the fall of 1815 to attend their medical lectures and continue his studies with Dr. John Pomeroy, and finally completed his studies at Dartmouth College, receiving his medical license in 1817. Root eventually moved to Boston, where he married Lucinda Jacobs on February 1, 1821. The couple had one daughter before Lucinda’s death in 1822 and Root’s death in New York on February 24, 1829. Topics in Root’s diary include UVM’s medical program in early nineteenth century, John Pomeroy, early nineteenth-century medical practices, teaching in Vermont in early nineteenth century, and modes of travel in the early nineteenth century.
    • Parent Collections: Diaries
    Part of: Diaries
    Miniature of Mandana White Goodenough Diary, 1844-1846, 1860-1861
    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
      Part of: Diaries
      Miniature of Roswell Farnham Diary, 1848-1849
      Roswell Farnham Diary, 1848-1849
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        • Creator: Farnham, Roswell, 1827-1903.
        • Date Created: 1848-1849
        • Description: Roswell Farnham was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 23, 1827, the son of Roswell and Nancy Bixby Farnham. Farnham's family moved to Bradford, Vermont in 1840, and he received his education at Bradford Academy and the University of Vermont, from which he graduated in 1849. Married to Mary Elizabeth Johnson on December 25, 1849, Farnham taught school before gaining admittance to the Orange County bar in 1857. When the Civil War broke out, he entered the First Vermont Regiment with the Bradford Guards militia as a Second Lieutenant. Farnham served with distinction in both the First Vermont and the Twelfth Vermont, and left the Army in July of 1863 as a Lieutenant Colonel. Following the war, Farnham became general counsel for the Vermont Copper Company and continued to work as both lawyer and administrator of the VCC for the rest of his life. In addition, he held a number of local and state political offices culminating in his defeat of Democrat Edward J. Phelps for the governorship of Vermont in 1880. After completing a single popular term as governor, Farnham returned to his law practice. In 1889 he also became president of the newly-formed New England Company, a group of Northern investors interested in developing the coal and iron deposits of northwestern Georgia. The New England Company was never a success, and Farnham spent much of the last decade of the nineteenth century trying to save it and the VCC from bankruptcy. Badly injured in a fall in November 1898, Farnham recovered sufficiently to resume some of his work but never regained full health. Roswell Farnham died at his home in Bradford on January 5, 1903, at the age of seventy-five. 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). His first child, Roswell Phelps Farnham Jr., died in infancy in 1861. Farnham was predeceased by a half-brother, Cyrus C. Farnham, in 1863. Topics in this diary include the curriculum, faculty, and student experience at UVM in the late 1840s; Burlington and neighboring towns in the late 1840s, UVM’s Lambda Iota fraternity, Zachary Taylor and the Whig Party, and teaching in Vermont and Canada in the mid-nineteenth century. Near the end of the diary are several essays written by Farnham during his senior year at UVM. Topics in these essays include religion, natural history, and King Lear.
        • Parent Collections: Diaries
        Part of: Diaries
        Miniature of Henry Osman Fisher Diary, 1894-1895
        Henry Osman Fisher Diary, 1894-1895
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          • Creator: Fisher, Henry Osman, 1872-1954.
          • Date Created: 1894-1895
          • Description: Henry Osman Fisher was born on October 23, 1872 in Addison, Vt. to Osman and Emma (Smith) Fisher. In 1894, Fisher was hired to sell Merino sheep and left Vermont for New York City. In November of that year, he and his brother-in-law, Carlton Watson Sprague, sailed to South Africa with 35 sheep. Fisher and Sprague landed in Cape Town and sold the sheep in Bloemfontein, before returning to the U.S. in April 1895. Fisher returned to South Africa the following year, selling sheep in Port Elizabeth and Molteno on behalf of C.W. Mason. Fisher made a third trip overseas in 1897, this time selling sheep in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eventually, Fisher left the sheep exporting business and returned to Vermont to run a farm in Panton, where he married Jessie May Field (1879-1967) on August 3, 1906. The couple had two children, Osman Field Fisher (1910-1993) and Ellen Bigelow (1907-1987). Fisher was a Freemason (Union Lodge No. 2, Middlebury) and was a charter member of Otter Creek Chapter No. 74 of the Order of the Eastern Star in Vergennes. Topics in this diary include the international Merino sheep trade, selling livestock in Africa and South America, the perils of turn-of-the-century sea travel, and meteorological phenomena on the Atlantic Ocean.
          • Parent Collections: Diaries
          Part of: Diaries
          Miniature of Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, June 7 - September 30, 1861
          Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, June 7 - September 30, 1861
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            • Creator: Marsh, Caroline Crane, 1816-1901.
            • Date Created: 1861
            • Description: This diary covers the Marshes’ first months in Italy and describes their first impressions of the country and its people. During this period, the Marshes befriend the Abbe Giuseppe Filippo Baruffi, astronomer Barone Giovanni Plana, and the Tottenham family, among others. They also meet the rest of the diplomatic corps in Turin, as well as many preeminent Italians, including King Victor Emmanuel II, Bettino Ricasoli, and Urbano Rattazzi. They learn much about Italy’s most recent prime minister, the Count of Cavour, who dies the day before the Marshes arrive in Turin. After the Marshes settle into the Casa d’Angennes (their home in Turin), they go on several sightseeing trips, hiking in the Alps and visiting Lago Maggiore and Villarbasse. Topics in this diary include the “Roman Question,” the Pope, and Catholicism; negotiations between Italy, the United States, and Giuseppe Garibaldi; the treatment of Garibaldi and Garibaldian soldiers by Italian government, the Torinese elites and their customs, rural life and rural industries, such as winemaking; the American Civil War, especially slavery and foreign enlistment; Ottoman politics, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s death, and the Great Comet of 1861.
            • Parent Collections: Caroline Crane Marsh Diaries, Vermont Diaries
            Part of: Diaries
            Miniature of Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, October 1 - December 31, 1861
            Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, October 1 - December 31, 1861
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              • Creator: Marsh, Caroline Crane, 1816-1901.
              • Date Created: 1861
              • Description: Political unrest across Europe, the Trent Affair, and accusations of French interference in Italian politics serve as the backdrop for the events in this diary. The Marshes continue to meet Italian elites and politicians, including the Duchess of Genoa, the Marchesa Doria, and Carlo Poerio, and befriend various diplomats and expatriates in Turin, including the Pulszkys, the Benedettis, and Mrs. Stanley. The Marshes travel to Florence to attend the National Exposition, and George Perkins Marsh takes part in two royal hunting excursions at Racconigi and Stupinigi. Topics in this diary include Rome, the Pope, and Catholicism; Victor Emmanuel, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Italian nationalism, the treatment of Garibaldian soldiers by the Italian government, rural industry and the everyday lives of Italian peasants, the behavior and manners of Italians, especially Italian women; relations between the Italian social classes, the American Civil War, especially slavery and foreign enlistment; the Suez Canal, and spiritualism.
              • Parent Collections: Caroline Crane Marsh Diaries, Vermont Diaries
              Part of: Diaries
              Miniature of Charles H. Blinn Civil War Diary, 1861-1862
              Charles H. Blinn Civil War Diary, 1861-1862
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                • Creator: Blinn, Charles Henry, 1843-1926.
                • Date Created: 1861-1862
                • Description: Charles Henry Blinn was born in Burlington, Vt. on January 27, 1843 to Chauncey and Edatha/Editha (Harrington) Blinn. He was educated in Vermont and was preparing to enter the University of Vermont when he entered the army. In September 21, 1861, Blinn enlisted in the 1st Vt. Cavalry. He was attached to Sheridan’s Cavalry Corps, and participated in a number of battles, including Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Wilderness, Winchester, and Cedar Creek. His regiment captured forty-two cannon at Cedar Creek, the largest number taken by any regiment during the war. Blinn was wounded and taken prisoner at Middletown, Va. on May 24, 1862, in a cavalry charge led by General Banks, and was held at Lynchburg and Belle Island, Va. from May 25 to September 17. After three years and four months of service, he was honorably discharged at Burlington in November 18, 1864. After the war, Blinn was chief clerk for two years at the Welden House in St. Albans, Vt. He moved to California in 1868, and for six years was employed with the Wells-Fargo Express Co. In 1875, he became an editorial writer of the “Alta California.” In 1878, he was appointed chief permit clerk in the San Francisco Custom House, a position he held until his death on May 11, 1926. On December 15, 1870, Blinn married Nellie Holbrook of Salem, NH. Nellie (d. 1909) was a suffragist and public speaker, and took the stump for Hayes, Garfield, Blaine, and Harrison. The couple had one son, Holbrook (1872-1928), who pursued a career in acting and performed on Broadway as well as in silent films. In October 8, 1910, Blinn married Vivian Bailey (d. 1944), a grammar school teacher, with whom he had one daughter, Eleanor. Topics in Blinn’s diaries include the experiences of Union soldiers in camp, on the battlefield, and as prisoners of war in Confederate prisons; the experiences of Southerners in Union-occupied towns, illness and medical practices in the military, and the Battle of Gettysburg.
                • Parent Collections: Diaries
                Part of: Diaries
                Miniature of Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, January 1 - March 7, 1862
                Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, January 1 - March 7, 1862
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                  • Creator: Marsh, Caroline Crane, 1816-1901.
                  • Date Created: 1862
                  • Description: The international political climate remains unsettled in this diary: political unrest continues across Europe and war seems imminent between England and the United States in the wake of the Trent Affair. The Italian political scene, however, becomes quite turbulent during the period: demonstrations in favor of national unification break out across Italy, the Italian ministry is dissolved, Bettino Ricasoli steps down, and Urbano Rattazzi becomes the new prime minister. Throughout all of this, the Marshes stay in Turin and continue to meet Italian elites and foreign nationals, including Rosa Arbesser, governess to Princess Margherita of Savoy. They also renew their acquaintance with Hungarian exile Lajos Kossuth and his family. The Marshes attend several political and social gatherings during this period and play their part in the Doria-Benedetti feud, “the social revolt against France” by the Torinese elites. Topics in this diary include the status and problems of Italian women, the role of women in marriage and society in the 19th century, Italian marriages and the influence of the Catholic church on marriage, education in Italy, the etiquette of Italian royalty and elites, Catholicism, and the celebration of Carnival in Italy.
                  • Parent Collections: Caroline Crane Marsh Diaries, Vermont Diaries
                  Part of: Diaries
                  Miniature of Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, July 24 - October 10, 1862
                  Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, July 24 - October 10, 1862
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                    • Creator: Marsh, Caroline Crane, 1816-1901.
                    • Date Created: 1862
                    • Description: Political unrest in Italy punctuates the events in this diary: Garibaldi’s failed attack on Rome (the Battle of Aspromonte) ends with his injury and surrender and the arrest of Ferenc Pulszky; demonstrations break out across Italy and martial law is declared in Sicily, and France refuses to give a definitive answer on the “Roman Question.” In the United States, President Lincoln announces that he will issue the Emancipation Proclamation in early 1863. These months prove eventful for the Marshes, as well. They move out of the Casa d’Angennes and take a trip to Switzerland, passing in and out of the Alps as they tour the country. After a quick trip to London to see his publishers, George Perkins Marsh rejoins his wife and niece in Switzerland and returns with them to Italy, stopping for a time in Como. Topics in this diary include education at Italian universities, political sentiments among Italian elites, relations between the Italian social classes, Italian etiquette, agriculture and rural industry in Italy and Switzerland, tourism and hospitality in Italy and Switzerland, Alpine avalanches, the English Colonial Society and English church services in Switzerland, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the marriage of Princess Maria Pia.
                    • Parent Collections: Caroline Crane Marsh Diaries, Vermont Diaries
                    Part of: Diaries
                    Miniature of Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, October 10, 1862 - January 20, 1863
                    Caroline Crane Marsh Diary, October 10, 1862 - January 20, 1863
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                      • Creator: Marsh, Caroline Crane, 1816-1901.
                      • Date Created: 1862-1863
                      • Description: This diary records the events leading up to the resignation of Urbano Rattazzi and his ministry in Italy, as well as the events that follow the 1862 elections and the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States. While the Marshes search for a new place to live, they sightsee in Como, hike Mount Bisbino, and settle into a temporary residence in Pegli (a seaside neighborhood in Genoa), where they befriend the Tebbs and Strettell families. Topics in this diary include Giuseppe Garibaldi, renting and occupying real estate in Italy, Italian art and architecture, Italian etiquette, Italian marriages, the education of women in the 19th century, tourism in Italy, the culture, climate, and industries in Genoa; Italian agricultural practices, public religious celebrations, the “Roman Question,” Christianity among the English and their attitudes towards Catholicism, crime and punishment in Italy, and Caroline Crane Marsh’s reasons for keeping a diary.
                      • Parent Collections: Caroline Crane Marsh Diaries, Vermont Diaries
                      Part of: Diaries