The William Adair meteorological diary features observations of temperature, humidity, wind, and precipitation of Lewes, Delaware between 1776-1788. At the front of the volume, Adair writes, "The same instrument from which the book was taken, is at No. 94. South Third street Philadelphia." Researchers seeking Adair's other recordings—and other weather-related data from this period—may consult the Meteorology Collection (Mss.551.5.M56).
 

William Bartram's meteorological diary spans 1/1/1790-9/13/1791 and includes daily observations of temperature, humidity, wind, and precipitation. Occasionally, Bartram records the effects of weather on Philadelphia. For example, in the winter of 1790 he notes that the Schuylkill freezes over in at least two distinct entries (1/23 and 2/7). Researchers investigating Philadelphia weather conditions in the early national period may find this volume useful.
 

James Madison recorded two volumes of daily weather conditions between 1784-1788 and 1789-1793 at his plantation in Montpellier. Alongside meteorological data (which often include temperatures and wind directions), Madison recorded notes pertaining to gardening and harvesting (typically on the right pages), sightings of the northern lights (3/14/1789, 8/18/1789, 9/25/1789, 10/19/1789, 11/14/1789, 1/13/1791, and 10/13/1792), and at least one instance of a small earthquake (1/13/1791). Notably, he also encloses an annotated newspaper clipping, apparently from the Pennsylvania Gazette, in his 2/21/1789 entry. These meteorological journals may interest researchers investigating weather conditions in the early national period and the personal affairs of James Madison.
 

The John W. Tukey Papers contain one volume, "National Diary for 1959," and it is not a diary, per se. Instead, Tukey appears to have transcribed notes in the space that would have been allocated for the following diary entries: 1/31-2/5; 4/12-4/25; 5/9-5/18; 5/28-6/16; 6/29-7/14; 7/25; and 8/1. Researchers interested in Tukey's research process may find this volume useful.
 

This collection contains meteorological observations from John Heckewelder, Christian Denke, and George Miller spanning 9/1/1800-5/22/1814. Observations include weather conditions and temperatures taken at various points of the day. Christian Frederick Denke's meteorological data from Fairfield, Canada begins 9/1/1800. John Heckewelder captures data from Gnadenhutten, Pennsylvania starting on 1/1/1807. George Miller records the conditions at Beersheba, Ohio beginning on 3/6/1812. Together, these volumes provide sample weather conditions that may interest researchers studying early national period meteorology.
 

The Francis Hopkinson notebook provides insights into the finances, and, to a lesser degree, the personal affairs of an American statesman. Entries span 11/21/1785-9/3/1790, with one or two outlying entries, one dated 2/20/1784, and another, which records the death of a "Mr. Bordeu," from 4/8/1791. Given that Hopkinson himself died in November 1791, this volume provides a window into his final years. Most entries are devoted to accounts. For example, Hopkinson notes the purchase of a ten-volume encyclopedia (2/15/1790). However, he occasional references personal affairs, as he does on 10/15/1790, when he writes, "Nancy went to school again." This notebook may interest researchers exploring Hopkinson's biography or Philadelphia during the early national period.
 

The Thomas Coates Collection contains one small, pocket-size journal with entries spanning the final two decades the seventeenth century (1682-1699). Coates, an early Quaker settler in Philadelphia, arrived in 1683 and established himself as a tailor and merchant by the 1690s. His journal, maintained in the margins of a British Merlin almanac dated 1683, mostly contains personal accounts and transactions, beginning as early as 1/22/1682. Most of his accounts date from the 1690s—curiously, many of his entries from 1695 are crossed out—and they include purchases of household items such as fabric, flax, butter, and nails (spelled "nayls"). Coates names many contemporaneous Philadelphians in the accounts. His journal also recounts a return to England in late-1683, and subsequent voyage back to America, via an unspecified location in Virginia. Notably, there are several memoranda scattered throughout the entries, including one memorializing the death of his mother (1678) and another commemorating his birthday (1659). Coates furnishes one of the oldest Philadelphia diaries in the collections at the American Philosophical Society, and, as such, this volume provides rare glimpses into the city's early social, economic, and material life.
 

A pioneer in cybernetics, neurology, and the development of the computer, Warren S. McCulloch maintained five years of appointment books in his late-career (1963, 1965, 1966-68). Although McCulloch records only spare notes, these volumes document meetings, travels, and lectures that ought to interest scholars researching McCulloch and the history of cybernetics more broadly. McCulloch makes regular references to American Society for Cybernetics (often simply as "ASC") and participates in a "Symposium on higher nervous activity Madrid (IV World Congress of psychiatry)" (9/5-9/11/1966). Notably, he includes some ephemera in his earliest volume, scraps which can offer glimpses into his research and professional activities. For example, he encloses a slip of note concerning a talk entitled "The Evolution of Culture as Revealed by Scale Analysis" dated 11/25/1963.
 

The three volumes of the Ship Apollo document captain William Billings's voyages between 12/10/1789-9/15/1791. Billings traveled from Philadelphia to A Coruna, Spain (1789-90), Porto, Portugal (1791), and back to Philadelphia (1791). During those voyages, Billings made various observations about the Gulf Stream (namely ocean temperature and weather) with the apparent intention of submitting his findings to the American Philosophical Society. This journal may interest scholars researching the Gulf Stream and transatlantic travel in the late-eighteenth century.
 

A prominent lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, James Wilson also kept a brief journal that records his work, travels, and some other surprising data. Recorded in a "Aitken's General American Register" dated 1773, this journal includes entries dated 1774, and 1782-1786. Entries appear in two different hands, and record receipts, expenses, and activities, the last probably not Wilson's. The second hand of the almanac has been dated to a later period, believed to be from 1782-1786, and it records in graphic detail the sexual exploits of its author.
 

The Colonel John Boykin and Francis P. Lee journal recounts an antebellum trip from Morristown, New Jersey to Camden, South Carolina. This short volume (8/15-9/5/1833) features descriptions of roads, travel conditions, and several observations of the towns they visit and the people they meet. For example, there is an account of Princeton (8/17/1833) as well as a reflection on religious enthusiasm (8/25/1833), both of which are excerpted in Selected Quotations. The Boykin and Lee journal may interest researchers investigating antebellum travel, the nineteenth-century mid-Atlantic, and religious practice during the Second Great Awakening.
 

These three volumes contain the journal kept by John Ordway from May 1804 to September 1806, while serving as a sergeant of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ordway's journals note wildlife, daily happenings on the expedition, and interactions with Native peoples. These volumes can serve as a good complement to the original Lewis and Clark ones. The journals have been edited and printed elsewhere, including a recent edition published by the American Philosophical Society.
 

John Rosseter was a ship captain whose log (1804-1805) offers a glimpse into Asia and seafaring life in nineteenth century. Rosseter's journal documents the voyage of the China Packet from Philadelphia to Macao (5/23-9/11/1804) as well as the return voyage (12/16/1804-4/25/1805). Although much of the volume is devoted to seafaring--with regular notes on winds, locational coordinates, weather, and other meteorological data--there is at least one entry that records his extended stay in China. After his final entry, Rosseter writes the following concluding statement: "One hundred & thirty days from Maccoa out of which time we had 30 Calm days, the longest passage I Ever had from China. With this Journal I have done and glad Am I." (4/25/1805).
 

The "Journal of a Voyage in the Ship Sampson" tracks the transatlantic crossing of an unknown immigrant from Liverpool to Philadelphia in 1819. The last pages describe the approach to Philadelphia in detail. The journal also touches on some of the emotions the author felt as he disembarked. The last page contains a poem written by the journal's author titled "On Leaving England for America" and a letter written to friends from "this land of liberty."
 

The Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth papers contain seven diary fragments, several of which contain multiple leaves. Although four of the fragments contain no indication of year recorded, their content suggests they might have been transcribed around the time of the dated fragments (1841- 1842). Langstroth uses these fragments primarily as a record of his ailing health, regularly noting instances of vertigo and coughing fits. Notably, two of the fragments contain extended religious reflections (1/2-3/6/1842, 4/7-9/5/1842), which may provide insights into his philosophy during his tenure as a Congregational pastor in Massachusetts.
 

Read in conjunction with the Lewis and Clark journals (Mss.917.3.L58) and William Clark Diary (Mss.917.3.L58c), the Meriwether Lewis journal will serve scholars researching the Lewis and Clark Expedition and western exploration in the early national period. Lewis' journal offers an early account of the river trip from Pittsburgh to the winter camp of the expedition, Camp Dubois, outside what is today Wood River, Illinois (June and December 1803). Lewis furnishes various meteorological observations as well as entries from William Clark. About a quarter of the journal (31 of 126 leaves) contains questions from Nicholas Biddle, with William Clark's replies, dated 1810. Biddle later requested that Clark write a narrative of the expedition, which was published as "History of the Expedition of Captains Lewis and Clark" (1814). This journal has also been printed in M. M. Quaife, ed., "The Journals of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Sargeant John Ordway, Kept on the Expedition of Western Exploration, 1803-1806," State Historical Society of Wisconsin Collections 22 (1916).
 

The Arthur J. Cain Papers include one diary that coincides with his appointment as Derby Professor of Zoology at the University of Liverpool (1968). (However, there does not appear to be explicit mention of that appointment.) Although the volume is sparsely populated, it documents his university appointments, including individual meetings, lectures, seminars, exams, and at least one note pertaining to a television appearance (2/19/1968). Notably, Cain includes a letter from his secretary E.R. Shummin, written on University of Manchester letterhead (dated 10/23/1968).
 

Michael Jacobs collected five volumes of meteorological data in Gettysburg between 4/1/1840 and 1/1/1860. Included in his observations are temperatures, barometer readings, cloud conditions, wind directions, and rainfall. Jacobs also encloses several loose pages, including two memoranda, two broadsides from the Pennsylvania College of Gettysburg (dated 4/15/1851), and a "Registry of Periodical Phenomena from the Smithsonian Institute." Researchers interested in antebellum weather conditions may find Jacobs's observations useful.
 

A travel narrative maintained by Pedro Joseph de Parras, a Spanish priest, devoted in part to travels in Spain and to descriptions of Montevideo and Buenos Aires. One-half of the work is the author's relation of trip through Paraguay, visiting various mission towns. I have provided a general description of life, education, and Christian teaching for the Indians. Includes lists of Jesuits at various missions.
 

Plant physiologist and historian Rodney H. True kept 10 volumes of diaries sporadically. For the most part, the diaries written prior to 1917 include perfunctory daily notes on True's professional activities, with occasional personal comments, but the diaries for 1917-1919 include longer and more interesting passages. Although True was not a retrospective diarist, he commented regularly on the news from Europe and, to a lesser degree, on the home front, where he used his knowledge of agricultural science to assist in raising food for the war effort. The diaries for 1883 and 1926 are very brief, the latter being more an appointment book than a true diary.