Diaries and Journals
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DIARIES AND JOURNALS SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT RUTGERS UNIVERSI'T'Y 0 xg8o DIARIES AND JOURNALS This publication has been made possible through a grant from the Blauvelt-Demarest Foundation A Guide to Manuscript DIARIES AND JOURNALS in the Special Collections Department Rutgers University Compiled by DONALD A. SINCLAIR CURATOR OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS New Brunswick ARCHIBALD STEVENS ALEXANDER LIBRARY RUTGERS UNIVERSITY Printed in Letterpress . by JKG PRINTING, INC. Edison, N. J. 1980 For KATHRYN, JEAN, AND JOHN Foreword ORIGINALLY a long introduction was planned for this compilation. Indeed the writer had constructed for that purpose, several years ago, a rather elab- orate essay on the nature of diaries, expounding upon their value for research. Riper judgment eventually prevailed, however, and the long introduction has been abandoned. No disquisition on the subject is called for. Everyone knows what diaries are; nearly everyone knows they are useful to historians. And no justification is needed for this guide. Presented here are descriptions of 359 diaries and journals in the Rutgers collection. Some are isolated items; many are part of larger manuscript bodies such as family papers. Most are originals; fifty-six are copies of originals in other repositories and in private or unknown hands. They are short or long (one covers seventy-three years) . Some are full and informative; others spotty and thin, occasionally little more than daily recitals of the weather conditions. Certain of the diarists were important persons in one way or another; the majority, however, were ordinary people—ordinary except in their diversity. These are the records of farmers, teachers, clergymen, lawyers, doctors, sol- diers, students, the young and the old, the rich, the poor, and other variants of humankind. And they lived or visited in many places. Whatever their quality, all diaries in the library's collection, plus a few in the University Archives, are recorded on the following pages. Not included, incidentally, are ships' logs, orderly books, retrospective narratives, and auto- biographies. Arrangement of the descriptions is chronological, by date of initial entry. In each case there is an indication of size and scope, with sufficient analysis for potential users to judge the diary's value. As a convenience to the Special Collections staff, accession numbers and other location devices (e.g., the letter A, for personal and family papers) have been appended. A word about the distinction between diaries and journals. While differing views may exist, the usage here is as follows: A diary is the record of daily activities, observations, or thoughts, kept (sometimes sporadically) by an individual. The journal is a similar record, kept by individuals or corporate bodies, for a special experience or event. Characteristic examples are war journals and travel journals. The term "journal" is applied also to a type of account book which, however, is not pertinent to the present compilation. The manuscript collection, to which these diaries belong (except four in the University Archives), is the largest category of source material held by the Special Collections Department. Like its holdings in other formsr--books, r7l pamphlets, periodicals, maps, early newspapers, and pictures, for example-- the manuscripts are primarily American, with particular strength in New Jerseyana. The Department's resources are available during its regular hours, nine to five, Monday through Saturday (but closed Saturdays in the summer months). All users are welcome—and readers are reminded that additions to the various collections are likewise welcomed. Although perfection in a work of this kind is impossible, every effort has been made to achieve it, by endless checking and revision throughout the compilation process. The writer is greatly indebted to his son John, who shared the final proofreading, and to his wife Kathryn, who did the same in an earlier period. Norman C. Wittwer, a friend and generous helper for many years, has performed the ultimate chore, a careful reading of the entire text in pageproof. He and various others contributed also during the prepara- tion, sometimes with information pertinent to the diaries or their authors, sometimes by steering additional diaries into the library's collection. A final word of thanks to the compiler's fellow workers in the Special Collections Department, for their support generally, and especially their help in isolating for description the diaries and journals in the library's manu- script collection: Clark L. Beck and Ronald L. Becker. 181 Diaries and Journals LAWRENCE, JOHN, 1709-1795. Covers his activities in relation to properties and as- Surveyor's journal, Sept. 24-Oct. 31, 1743. sets of his parents' estates (John Parker, 1693-1732, and Janet Johnstone, 1699-1741). Descriptions of trips, visits, New Jersey. Manuscript copy, c.1880. 60 pages. conversations, letters written, etc., in his efforts to collect Includes insertions from Lawrence's field notes, copies accounts, settle mortgages, and the like, dealing with of several pertinent documents, and a few added notes persons chiefly in Middlesex County, N.J. Elisha Parker by the unidentified copyist. Kept during the running of was an attorney. His father, John, was a merchant, the division line between the provinces of East and member of the bar, and colonial official. West New Jersey, the journal deals largely with meas- For an article based on this volume, see Anne Zim- urements and topographical features relative to the mer, "Elisha Parker's 'Minutes'—an Eighteenth Century survey. (A:99) Record of the Parker Family," Journal of the Rutgers University Library, 28(1964/65):6-21. (A:719; Parker HARDENBERGH, DINA (VAN BERGH) family papers) 1725-1807. LEAMING, AARON, 1715-1780. Diary, Feb. 1, 1746-Nov. (? ), 1747. Amster- Diary, March 31, 1750-June 8, 1751, Jan. 1- dam (? ). 2 vols. 2 Dec. 27, 1761, Jan. 3-Nov. 12, 1775, Jan. 27- The 22-page diary for 1746 (in Dutch) covers in- Nov. 19, 1777. Cape May County, N.J. 4 vols. completely Feb. 1-Dec. 4 (preserved are a preliminary leaf whose numbers are lost, and pp. 17 -18, 25-40, 47- (422 pages). Microfilm copy, 1972. 5 48, all others lacking). The 1747 diary is in the form An erratic mixture of financial memoranda, sur- of a 259-page manuscript by Rev. William Demarest veyor's notes, and irregular diary entries, many of (1813-1874), "Sketch, and a Translation from the them concerned with farming and land. Learning was a Dutch, of the Diary, of Dinah Van Bergh" (Suffern, prominent man, a considerable landowner, surveyor, N.Y., 1869). member of the colonial Assembly, co-compiler of the Dina van Bergh, said to have lived at Amsterdam, well-known Grants and Concessions (1758), a collec- came to America in 1750 as wife of Rev. John Frieling- tion of .basic New Jersey documents. Extracts from the huysen (c.1727-1754), pastor of five Raritan Valley diary were published in the 1932 Cape May County (N.J.) Dutch Reformed congregations, and later married Magazine of History and Genealogy (1:69-82). his successor at Raritan, Rev. Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh Gift of Mrs. Rene Pingeon, 1973. The original (1736-1790). The diary is an obsessive narrative of re- books are owned by the Historical Society of Penn- ligious experience, with few references to other personal sylvania. (D-128; Ac.2715) activities but in 1747 many patriotic observations on the war between France and Holland. REYERSE, GEORGE, 1703-1792. Gift of Catherine Hardenbergh Schneeweiss (1746 Journal, June (?) 5, 1752-June 20, 1771. diary) and Mrs. Joseph S. Frelinghuysen (1747 transla- tion), 1956. (Ac.0.978, 1580; Hardenbergh family Bergen County, N.J. 132 pages. 6 papers) Relates to his activities as agent of the Proprietors of East New Jersey for the Ramapo Tract—irregular en- READING, JOHN, 1686-1767. tries concerned with leasing arrangements, rents, a few Diary, Jan. 1, 1746/7-Nov. 4, 1767. Hunter- evictions, etc., describing visits, conversations, and cir- cumstances, with copies of receipts, etc. "This large tract don County, N.J. 86 pages. 3 containing . .. 66 square miles, comprised the present Brief entries concerning business (chiefly land) and townships of Franklin, Hohokus and Ridgewood, with personal activities. Reading was a surveyor and land part of Orvil in Bergen County," as well as areas in operator, living on a farm near Flemington, N.J. He present Passaic and Rockland counties. (Cf. E. S. Ran- was also active in public life, member of the Governor's kin, "The Ramapo Tract," Proceedings of the New Council, 1728-67, and New Jersey acting governor, Jersey Historical Society, 50[1932]:375-94.) The writer, 1747, 1757-58. also a judge and one of the Proprietors' deputy surveyors- The 1746-53 portion of the diary is from an unre- general for Bergen County, lived near the tract, in what corded source, the remainder acquired in 1953. (A:99, is now Wayne Township (Passaic County). 1257) Gift of Charles A. Philhower, 1961. (Ac.1810) PARKER, ELISHA, 1724?-1751. CLARK, THOMAS, 1737-1809. Journal, March 29, 1748-Jan. 16, 1750/1. Journal, 1758-1804. Gloucester County, N.J. Perth Amboy, etc., N.J. 89 pages. 4 41 pages. Microfilm (1960) of typescript copy. [91 g 1762-1775 11 The so-called journal (actually disjointed reminiscen- sulting from mistreatment by one Capt. Grey (an ces, observations, and genealogy) was transcribed by agent for Wickham?). In 1766, Wickham and several Clark in 1801, with additions to 1804, from contempo- associates had received a patent for six square miles rary books (diaries?) kept by him. Living first in Green- easterly of Crown Point. The journal includes notes of wich Township and later in Deptford Township (from conversations, observations, etc. March 1777), he was a farmer and, at various times, Gift of Charles A. Philhower, 1961. (Ac.1810) judge, justice of the peace, member of the West Jersey Council of Proprietors, state constitutional convention, KAIGHN, JOHN.