1868 HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL WHO RELISHES CANDY, ELEGANTLY FROSTED CAKE AND CHESS

On offer is a delightful original 1868 Civil War era handwritten diary kept by a very young girl named Gertie B. Barrett [b. May 4th 18??]. Nice hand writing but still playing with her dolls we estimate she is 9 or 10 years old. Research suggests that she is somewhere outside of Boston, Massachusetts area. Our young diarist does a commendable job sharing her day to day life through mid-May [she gets sick and sputters out] entries that include details of going to school, her teachers and siblings, visits to church and grandparents, games such as chess and backgammon, sliding, ice-skating, and a long sickness in the Spring. She goes frequently to St. Paul's Mission, fights with her sister, tells of being given 'a lot of elegant frosted cake' on a visit, 'went over to Grandma's and much candy', 'Lizzie and Gertie, Mary and Momma all jumped on a rotten potato', 'our Jemiah climed a tree….there she sat throwing corn at our old bobtail rooster', recipe for Indian Pudding are a few of the bits of her life she shares with her diary. She also mentions names of playmates and visitors: Fanny Patton, Ira Kent, Annie Merrill, Mrs. Rand, Mrs. Macdonald, Mary Hayes, Maggie Webster, Julia Thoms ++. This full leather diary was a Christmas gift from Mary. Clasp flap over fore-edge fully intact. Marbled edges. 4 7/8''. Complete in one volume. Some general rubbing but overall VG. ; 48mo - over 3" - 4" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, ST. PAUL'S MISSION, CIVIL WAR ERA, MASSACHUSETTS, PRE SUFFRAGE, WOMEN'S STUDIES, Personal, Memoir, Handwritten, hand written, autograph, autographs, signed, letters, document, documents, manuscript, manuscripts, writers, writer, author, holograph, personal, Americana, Pioneer, ANTIQUITÉ, CONTRAT, VÉLIN, MANUSCRIT, PAPIER ANTIKE, BRIEF, PERGAMENT, DOKUMENT,