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.
 

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 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.
 

In a journal maintained during a transatlantic voyage from England to Delaware between 6/26/1803-8/20/1803, William Poyntell records wind directions, weather conditions, temperatures, and times of observation. He often includes observations pertaining to storms, lightning, and fog, and, on at least one occasion, he references the ship entering the Gulf Stream (7/30/1803). The volume also includes "Observations on the storm glass," intended for the membership at the American Philosophical Society. (The inside cover of the volume reads "Presented by Wm Poynell to the APS Philadelphia 5 Nov. 1803.") This journal may interest scholars researching meteorological conditions, transatlantic travel, and the institutional history of 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).
 

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).
 

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.
 

The meteorological observations contain at least 30 volumes spanning 1748-1822. Maintained by William Adair, Peter Legaux, James Madison, Phineas Pemberton, and other prominent figures from the early national period, these volumes capture meteorological data, thermometer readings, winds, and occasionally longitudes, latitudes, graphs, and miscellaneous notes. Phineas Pemberton recorded approximately half of the volumes, in or around Philadelphia during colonial and revolutionary period (August 1748-December 1776). Other volumes record meteorological data from New England (Samuel Williams), Natchez (William Dunbar), and Peru and northern Chile (Samuel Curson). Scholars researching late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth weather conditions will be well-served by this collection.
 

Peter Legaux maintained two volumes of meteorological records between 1787-1800 in Spring Mill (what is today the Whitemarsh Township just outside of Philadelphia). The first volume features his correspondence with the American Philosophical Society—addressed to the society's then-president, Thomas Jefferson—in which he explains his methods for recording data, excerpted in Selected Quotations (2/25/1801). The second volume contains the data, including records from Philadelphia (c.1740-1770) that are believed to have been conducted by Phineas [or possibly Israel] Pemberton. Notably, when Legaux discusses the "Extraordinary cold for the season of the year" on 6/16/1816, he appears to describe what would later became known as the "year without summer," following the eruption of the volcano Tomboro in 1815. Researchers seeking further Legaux recordings—and other weather-related data from this period—may consult the Meteorology Collection (Mss.551.5.M56).
 

David Rittenhouse maintained meteorological observations in two volumes that span the first twenty years of the early national period (5/6/1784-9/30/1805). Alongside weather conditions, Rittenhouse regularly documents temperatures, the conditions of roads, expenses, and accounts. These volumes may interest researchers studying meteorological conditions as well as other regional phenomena such as eclipses and the Yellow Fever epidemic.

Meteorological observations, 1784-1805
 
David Rittenhouse maintained meteorological observations in two volumes that span the first twenty years of the early national period (5/6/1784-9/30/1805). Alongside weather conditions, Rittenhouse regularly documents temperatures, the conditions of roads, expenses, and accounts. These volumes may interest researchers studying meteorological conditions as well as other regional phenomena such as eclipses and the Yellow Fever epidemic.

Luna Bergere Leopold Papers contain a truly remarkable set of field notes and journals traversing some 75 years (1931-2006). The son of the famous conservationist Aldo Leopold, Luna Loeopold enjoyed a long and multidisciplinary career in his own right, contributing to the fields of meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, and conservation more broadly. The APS holds two sets of materials that provide rich, nearly daily insights into his long career: Leopold's field notebooks and personal journals. Maintained in 71 numbered volumes—101 volumes total—the field notebooks begin in 1937 and end in 2006, just a day before his death. Given the volume of material, researchers would be well-advised to us the two indices, hand-bound by Leopold, to navigate these volumes. (Thankfully, the APS finding aid is also unusually granular.) In addition to detailed field measurements, readings, and professional travels, Leopold often uses these notebooks to record personal reflections. Arguably the jewel of the collection, however, is a set of 12 large, meticulously illustrated personal journals that collect decades (1931-2003) of personal stories, work perspectives, and travelogues. These journals are so packed with photographs, illustrations (many of them quite remarkable in their draftsmanship), and other ephemera that they might be better described as ornate scrapbooks, and some items have been relocated into separate folders. Scholars new to the collection may choose to begin research with the field notebooks and personal journals by tracing Leopold's wide-ranging twentieth-century travels. In addition to decades of intensive field work in the American west, Leopold spent extensive time in Hawaii prior to statehood (1947-48), visited India shortly after Independence (1955), and conducted a 1970 worldwide trip that carried him to Kenya, Nepal, Japan, and Israel (to which he would return in 1974 and 1983).
 

Interested researchers would do well to consult the detailed description of Hunter's four volumes available in the Early American History Note. For the purposes of diary researchers, the first volume (1796) warrants attention for its descriptions of indigenous peoples and early settlements. For example, Hunter offers an extended account of St. Louis (9/4/1796). He also describes an Indian woman whose nose was cut off by her husband for infidelity, a passage excerpted in Selected Quotations (9/9/1796). The 1802 journal documents Hunter's trip across Pennsylvania (Berlin, Carlisle, and Shippensburg), visit to a cave in Kentucky, and discussion of salt production at Blue Lick. Finally, the last two journals (1804, 1809) include various travels in the South, including a description of expedition to the Hot Springs of Arkansas (1804-1805) as well as longitudes and latitudes that researchers might use to trace Hunter's journey. Notably, Hunter discovers Mammoth bones, which he compares to those of Charles Wilson Peale, writing, "I cannot for bear mentioning a great natural curiosity I have just seen here [sic] about 2 ½ Tons of Bones of one or two Mammoths twice as large as Peals" (5/27/1804).

George Hunter maintained four journals during expeditions into Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, and Louisiana between 1796-1809. Hunter records his daily affairs, observations of territories, visits to trading centers, and commentary on international rivalries and relations with various indigenous peoples, including the Delaware, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Osage. With rich, narrative accounts of western travel in the early national period—including exploration of Louisiana shortly after the Louisiana Purchase—the Hunter diaries ought to interest scholars researching the American west, Native America, and U.S. empire.
 
Interested researchers would do well to consult the detailed description of Hunter's four volumes available in the Early American History Note. For the purposes of diary researchers, the first volume (1796) warrants attention for its descriptions of indigenous peoples and early settlements. For example, Hunter offers an extended account of St. Louis (9/4/1796). He also describes an Indian woman whose nose was cut off by her husband for infidelity, a passage excerpted in Selected Quotations (9/9/1796). The 1802 journal documents Hunter's trip across Pennsylvania (Berlin, Carlisle, and Shippensburg), visit to a cave in Kentucky, and discussion of salt production at Blue Lick. Finally, the last two journals (1804, 1809) include various travels in the South, including a description of expedition to the Hot Springs of Arkansas (1804-1805) as well as longitudes and latitudes that researchers might use to trace Hunter's journey. Notably, Hunter discovers Mammoth bones, which he compares to those of Charles Wilson Peale, writing, "I cannot for bear mentioning a great natural curiosity I have just seen here [sic] about 2 ½ Tons of Bones of one or two Mammoths twice as large as Peals" (5/27/1804).

The Expedition Journals feature three travel journals bound in a single volume. The first two document William Dunbar's expedition up the Red and Ouachita Rivers to the Hot Springs of Arkansas in 1804-1805. Although few contemporary locations are named, they include numerous coordinates that researchers may use to track the journey. "Journal... to the Mouth of the Red River" furnishes particularly lush descriptions of the settlers (e.g. 10/21/1804) and indigenous peoples (11/24/1804) in the region. The second journal records technical data from the expedition, including a thermometrical log. Both journals dovetail nicely with that of traveling companion, George Hunter, also available at the APS (Mss.B.H912).; The final journal recounts an expedition to explore the geography of the Mississippi River led by Lt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike between 1805-1806. The Pike journal provides a daily account of the activities of the expedition during an early exploration into present day Minnesota. Notably, that journal includes significant attention to exchanges between settlers and local indigenous tribes (e.g. 9/3/1805, 9/10/1805, 9/24-25/1805). That volume has been printed with variations and omissions in An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi and through the Western Parts of Louisiana... (Philadelphia, 1810), and it was edited in Donald Jackson, ed., The Journals of Zebulon Pike: with Letters and Related Documents (Norman, Okla., 1966). Bound together, the Dunbar and Pike volumes ought to interest a range of scholars researching U.S. exploration and Native America in the early national period.
 

The Eastwick papers include at least 19 diaries, travel journals, and various notebooks maintained by multiple families between 1773-1903. This extended note will offer an overview of their contents in sequential order.
 
The collection contains at least four eighteenth-century journals. The earliest volume, "Aitkens General American Register (with notes)," serves primarily as an account book from 1773. Notably, an April entry includes a note pertaining to Philadelphia evacuations during the American Revolution: "On June 1778, Just one week after the evacuations of the city of Philadelphia by the British Army, Mr. Rittenhouse…Dr. Smith and Mr. Owen Biddle were buried in [making] observations there." Jesse Lukens's "Notes of Surveys" spans much of 1774 (5/10/-9/10/1774), and includes some Indian names and various accounts at the end of the volume. Longitudes and latitudes are interspersed throughout. While dated 1778, "Garden Book by Wister, Daniel and Sarah" features entries spanning 1771-1776. Daniel Wister uses the notebooks as a garden book, recording bulbs and flowers planted, whereas Sally (Sarah) Wister uses it as a travel journal related to a trip to North Wales. "Poor Will's Almanack (with notes) includes entries from 1777-1778 pertaining to weather accounts, and the surveying business of a John Luhms.
 
The next two diaries recount two trips taken by Charles Jones Wister, Sr. in 1812 and 1815. The first "Diary of a trip to Pittsburgh by Wister, Charles," documents his trip to Pittsburgh in the spring of 1812 (5/27-7/19/1812). It notes various stops between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. "Diary of a trip to Niagara Falls" records a trip in the summer of 1815 (7/24-8/25/1815). Notably, Wister discusses contact with both Oneida and Seneca settlements, both of which are excerpted in Selected Quotations (8/9/1815, 8/13/1815).
 
William Wynne Wister's "Weather Account Book" (1818-1821) records the weather, winds, and temperatures of an unspecified location.
 
The next two volumes are more closely resemble field notebooks than diaries. The first, entitled "Bees: June 16, 1824" recounts Charles Jones Wister's (presumably Sr.) purchase of a swarm of bees. Maintained until 8/29/1828, Wister documents breaking open the hive, extracting honey, and installing a plate of glass through which he can watch production, writing, "to my great surprise and joy I found the bees busily employ'd in mending the combs sealing up the broken parts & fastening them to the sides of the tree." He continues purchasing hives (accumulating 10 in total) upon which he conducts various experiments. The next "Diary" (1841) serves as a journal of Wister's work in daguerreotyping. A sample entry reads: "Succeeded in taking the first Daguerreotype picture at 3 P.M. in 12 minutes on the 27th of the 7 Mo. 1840 after two attempts."
 
Charles Jones Wister, Jr. maintained five volumes between 1842-1856. The first diary documents his personal affairs in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, and includes several letters from the fall of 1842. The next journal records personal affairs in and around Germantown in April 1848. The following two volumes were maintained in 1854. The first "Recipes & Directions," dated August 1854, is less a diary than a collection of notes related to handiwork, including tools and recipes for glue and cement. The next volume serves as a travel journal of Virginia and Maryland. While entries begin in October 1854, come continue as late as October 1869. Wister also maintained a diary pertaining to a trip to New York and Niagara Falls taken in the summer of 1856 (7/1-8/23/1856).
 
While not a diary, per se, Charles Jones Wister, Jr.'s "Notes" includes some dated entries spanning 1864-1865. Those entries might be called miscellany, with illustrations of Germantown woods, notes on the sport of cricket, and observations on current affairs. Notably, Wister records at least one piece of news from to the American Civil War: "The news of Gen'l Lee's surrender, the great achievement all felt would be the virtual end of the Rebellion, and to which all hopes have been bent with the upmost [nervousness] since the fall of Richmond, on the Sunday previous, reached Phila. about 9 ½ o'clock this even'g…" (4/9/1865). A second volume from 1865, entitled "Diary of Trip," recounts a trip to Newport, including meteorological observations (10/10/1865-9/1867).
 
"Diary & Farm Notes" is one of the more unusual records in the collection. Co-authored by Charles Jones Wister, Sr. and Jr., this volume spans much of the nineteenth century (1806-1878). Although much of it is devoted to farm chores—slaughtering hogs, blacking boots, filling the ice house, and smoking meat—there is at least one account concerning General La Fayette's visit to Germantown, excerpted in Selected Quotations (7/20/1825). There's also an note on locusts swarms, which appear to have been a recurring problem for the farmhands: "Locusts appeared this warm sultry morning for the first time. Rose bushes are covered with them and ground ruined in many places, probably their first appearance was delayed by the unusual backwardness of the season, there having been but little to remind one of the summer until now. It will be seen by reference to mem. In this book that both in the years 1817 & 1834 they made their appearance on the 23rd of May" (6/6/1868).
 
The last two volumes tax the definition of a diary, but include useful material nevertheless. The first, Charles Jones Wister, Jr.'s "Record of New Year Eves," serves as a kind of commonplace book traversing 50 years of his life (1852-1903). It includes excerpts, poetry, and quotes at the front of the volume, and various newspaper clippings throughout. Finally, Lowry Wister's undated "Medical Recipes" functions as recipe book, with prescriptions for various maladies, preventative and curative, including "sore eyes," "preventing a miscarriage," and "hooping cough."

The Eastwick collection features at least 19 diaries, travel journals, and notebooks maintained by various members of the Wister family between 1773-1903. While the majority of the volumes which were maintained by Charles Wister, Sr. or his son Charles Wister, Jr., the collection also includes contributions from Jesse and John Lukens, Daniel and Sarah Wister, William Wynne Wister, and Lowry Wister. The scope of the collection and multitude of diarists is matched by the diversity of the journals. The Eastwick collection includes personal diaries, travel journals, recipe books, commonplace books, memoranda books, account books, field notebooks, and volumes that defy simple definition. Researchers will discover early accounts of Bristol, Pennsylvania (1783), Pittsburgh (1812), and Niagara Falls (1815), records of gardening, beekeeping, farm work, and daguerreotyping, and accounts of both the evacuation of the Philadelphia in 1778, the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox in 1865, and a visit by General La Fayette to Germantown in 1825. Suffice it to say, these volumes will serve a range of different scholars, including those researching the American Revolution and Civil War, Native America, women's history, the history of photography (daguerreotyping in particular), and nineteenth-century travel, surveyorship, agriculture, husbandry, and beekeeping.
 
The Eastwick papers include at least 19 diaries, travel journals, and various notebooks maintained by multiple families between 1773-1903. This extended note will offer an overview of their contents in sequential order.
 
The collection contains at least four eighteenth-century journals. The earliest volume, "Aitkens General American Register (with notes)," serves primarily as an account book from 1773. Notably, an April entry includes a note pertaining to Philadelphia evacuations during the American Revolution: "On June 1778, Just one week after the evacuations of the city of Philadelphia by the British Army, Mr. Rittenhouse…Dr. Smith and Mr. Owen Biddle were buried in [making] observations there." Jesse Lukens's "Notes of Surveys" spans much of 1774 (5/10/-9/10/1774), and includes some Indian names and various accounts at the end of the volume. Longitudes and latitudes are interspersed throughout. While dated 1778, "Garden Book by Wister, Daniel and Sarah" features entries spanning 1771-1776. Daniel Wister uses the notebooks as a garden book, recording bulbs and flowers planted, whereas Sally (Sarah) Wister uses it as a travel journal related to a trip to North Wales. "Poor Will's Almanack (with notes) includes entries from 1777-1778 pertaining to weather accounts, and the surveying business of a John Luhms.
 
The next two diaries recount two trips taken by Charles Jones Wister, Sr. in 1812 and 1815. The first "Diary of a trip to Pittsburgh by Wister, Charles," documents his trip to Pittsburgh in the spring of 1812 (5/27-7/19/1812). It notes various stops between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. "Diary of a trip to Niagara Falls" records a trip in the summer of 1815 (7/24-8/25/1815). Notably, Wister discusses contact with both Oneida and Seneca settlements, both of which are excerpted in Selected Quotations (8/9/1815, 8/13/1815).
 
William Wynne Wister's "Weather Account Book" (1818-1821) records the weather, winds, and temperatures of an unspecified location.
 
The next two volumes are more closely resemble field notebooks than diaries. The first, entitled "Bees: June 16, 1824" recounts Charles Jones Wister's (presumably Sr.) purchase of a swarm of bees. Maintained until 8/29/1828, Wister documents breaking open the hive, extracting honey, and installing a plate of glass through which he can watch production, writing, "to my great surprise and joy I found the bees busily employ'd in mending the combs sealing up the broken parts & fastening them to the sides of the tree." He continues purchasing hives (accumulating 10 in total) upon which he conducts various experiments. The next "Diary" (1841) serves as a journal of Wister's work in daguerreotyping. A sample entry reads: "Succeeded in taking the first Daguerreotype picture at 3 P.M. in 12 minutes on the 27th of the 7 Mo. 1840 after two attempts."
 
Charles Jones Wister, Jr. maintained five volumes between 1842-1856. The first diary documents his personal affairs in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, and includes several letters from the fall of 1842. The next journal records personal affairs in and around Germantown in April 1848. The following two volumes were maintained in 1854. The first "Recipes & Directions," dated August 1854, is less a diary than a collection of notes related to handiwork, including tools and recipes for glue and cement. The next volume serves as a travel journal of Virginia and Maryland. While entries begin in October 1854, come continue as late as October 1869. Wister also maintained a diary pertaining to a trip to New York and Niagara Falls taken in the summer of 1856 (7/1-8/23/1856).
 
While not a diary, per se, Charles Jones Wister, Jr.'s "Notes" includes some dated entries spanning 1864-1865. Those entries might be called miscellany, with illustrations of Germantown woods, notes on the sport of cricket, and observations on current affairs. Notably, Wister records at least one piece of news from to the American Civil War: "The news of Gen'l Lee's surrender, the great achievement all felt would be the virtual end of the Rebellion, and to which all hopes have been bent with the upmost [nervousness] since the fall of Richmond, on the Sunday previous, reached Phila. about 9 ½ o'clock this even'g…" (4/9/1865). A second volume from 1865, entitled "Diary of Trip," recounts a trip to Newport, including meteorological observations (10/10/1865-9/1867).
 
"Diary & Farm Notes" is one of the more unusual records in the collection. Co-authored by Charles Jones Wister, Sr. and Jr., this volume spans much of the nineteenth century (1806-1878). Although much of it is devoted to farm chores—slaughtering hogs, blacking boots, filling the ice house, and smoking meat—there is at least one account concerning General La Fayette's visit to Germantown, excerpted in Selected Quotations (7/20/1825). There's also an note on locusts swarms, which appear to have been a recurring problem for the farmhands: "Locusts appeared this warm sultry morning for the first time. Rose bushes are covered with them and ground ruined in many places, probably their first appearance was delayed by the unusual backwardness of the season, there having been but little to remind one of the summer until now. It will be seen by reference to mem. In this book that both in the years 1817 & 1834 they made their appearance on the 23rd of May" (6/6/1868).
 
The last two volumes tax the definition of a diary, but include useful material nevertheless. The first, Charles Jones Wister, Jr.'s "Record of New Year Eves," serves as a kind of commonplace book traversing 50 years of his life (1852-1903). It includes excerpts, poetry, and quotes at the front of the volume, and various newspaper clippings throughout. Finally, Lowry Wister's undated "Medical Recipes" functions as recipe book, with prescriptions for various maladies, preventative and curative, including "sore eyes," "preventing a miscarriage," and "hooping cough."

Davenport employed a host of different types of notebooks to record entries. Those include: Standard Diary, A Line a Day, Red Star Diary, Nassau Diary, Loesen Engagement Book, Daily Reminder, Vaughan's, New Census, Marquette, and various loosely bound notebooks. While he records weather conditions (often with temperatures), meetings, and accounts throughout those records, his earliest accounts proffer his most personal and narrative entries.
 
Between 1878-84, Davenport writes regularly about his religious upbringing, studies, work at the Polytechnic Institute, and political observations. Religion features prominently in Davenport's youth: In addition to regularly attending church and Sunday School, he records notes and thoughts about particular readings and sermons (consider for example 1/6/1878, 1/29/1882, and 2/16/1882). In a 1/22/1882 entry, he even notes the visit of a Mormon woman from Utah, which he later marks as a "principal personal event."
 
Alongside notes about subjects related to studies, Davenport records household chores (7/16/1881), recreational activities (walks, rides, croquet), trips (e.g. a summer visit to the New Hampshire White Mountains in 1884), cultural excursions (the American Museum of Natural History on 1/6/1879), personal readings (1/3/1881), and some of the first evidence of his interest in surveying (illustrations of a chapel hall, 1/2/1880). The young Davenport also demonstrated an unusual curiosity in current affairs and politics. For example, his first journal includes an enthusiastic account of election day (11/5-11/6/1878), and his 1881 diary features several entries dedicated to assassination of President James Garfield and ascension of Chester A. Arthur (9/26-9/30/1881). These early diaries are also some of Davenport's most playful: he self-consciously reflects on diary-writing (2/6-2/7/1878, 1878 memoranda, 1880 front matter, and 9/6/1880) and intersperses doodles to commemorate holidays (12/311878 and 2/22/1879, 5/30/1879, 6/1/1879).
 
Subsequent diaries are less narrative in nature, but illuminating their own right. Davenport maintains notebooks on subject area interests, including a journal entitled "Ornithology 1885" which includes migration charts from the American Ornithologists' Union," notebooks dedicated to topology, mineralogy, budding and regeneration, and research on the human brain (1885-1892), and various notebooks dedicated to the study of human inheritance. As Davenport's career begins to take off around the fin de siecle, he includes more notes related to lectures, seminars, student meetings, dinners, and lab work. His marriage to Gertrude Crotty surfaces in the five-year diary spanning 1899-1905 via birthday reminders (2/28/1899), city outings (9/11/1900), and notes related to their child, Janet (1/2/1899).
 
Researchers will find that Davenport's early-twentieth century diaries provide insights into his burgeoning career in genetics. In addition to notebooks pertaining to expeditions to the Biloxi, Mississippi (March 1901), Europe (September-October 1902 and 1909-10), and Mt. Washington (August 1908), a 1903 notebook features notes on "Topics of Inheritance" and allusions to work on a laboratory—almost certainly his Carnegie-funded lab in Cold Spring Harbor. Nevertheless, many of his entries could easily be confused with those of a farmer: Davenport records notes to purchase chicken feed, coal, grain, and rat poison, and a 1909-10 diary features numerous and meticulous illustrations of fish (October 1909 – March 1910). Concurrently, Davenport notes numerous meetings with leaders in genetics, botany, and zoology, including George Harrison Shull, Herbert Spencer Jennings, Edward Bagnall Poulton, Albert Francis Blakeslee, and Edmund Beecher Wilson. Perhaps most significantly, beginning around 1911, Davenport starts to reference Mary Harriman, who would later fund his work in eugenics.
 
Eugenics surface most directly in Davenport's diaries maintained throughout the 1910s and 1920s. Alongside regular visits to the "Harriman House," Davenport notes the opening of his laboratory ("Bio Lab Opens," 6/26/1912) and his increasing commitments to the field of eugenics. That includes notes on "Dwarfs of Lamar Lamar" (11/14/1911), reminders of "families to study (e.g. "chemists," "artists," "statesmen," "vocalists," and "naval" in his 1913 memoranda), and an account of "negative" and "positive eugenics" (January 1920). One notebook (dated "February 12") is less a diary than a set of eugenics lecture notes, including a "Field worker's guide" that describes the consequences of segregation, limitations of the law of heredity, and pages allocated for recording hair color, skin color, stature, mental activity, feeble-mindedness (e.g. pauperism, crime, insanity, criminality).
 
Between 1914-1930, Davenport makes numerous trips to Europe to study eugenics (including (1914, 1922, and 1929). His 1914 trip is explicitly labeled "Eugenics in Holland" (10/22). A series of loose, typed pages entitled "Diary of Trip to Europe, September 13 to October 31, 1922," includes notes on a lecture entitled "Das Mutations Problem" in Vienna (9/25) and his participation in the Second Commission of Eugenics through which he "Voted to admit Germany and all other, properly qualified countries to the Commission" (10/9). Perhaps most remarkably, at the end of that trip, Davenport records a meeting with Charles Darwin's son, Leonard: "At Lewes was met by Darwin and taken to his home in Sussex. Private conference on eugenical matters" (10/20).
 
That engagement carries home, where, in a 1930 diary, he includes a series of relevant newspaper clippings: "Racial related to a Racial Integrity Bill Signed" in Richmond, Virginia (3/14), "Extols African Marriage" (3/4), "Senate Refuses to Shelve Harris Quota Bill: Senate Again Rejects Motion by Glass aimed at Salvaging National origins Clause" (4/24), and "Dr. Adler Closes Psychology Clinic: Noted Viennese Scientist Declared Target of Medical Center Critics" (5/31). In some loose pages associated with that diary, Davenport compares a colleague (simply identified as "Gordon") to the Croatian-American geneticist Milislav Demerec: While Davenport finds Gordon "industrious and fertile in ideas," he adds that he is "not so brilliant as Demerec" (6/3).
 
Davenport's remaining diaries (1931-1944) mostly focus on various trips, with occasional mentions of the outbreak of World War II. The early-1930s feature a series of notebooks dedicated to travel in the Americas, including a "Western Trip" and "Trip to the West by Automobile" (which collectively span July-October 1931), as well as trips to Bermuda, Mexico, and Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia trip is noteworthy because Davenport explicitly notes an encounter with Russian-American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky. In his late-1930s journals, World War II surfaces, if only briefly. In a diary spanning 1937-39, Davenport notes Germany's seizure of Poland (9/1/1939) and Great Britain's subsequent declaration of war (9/3/1939). Curiously, he also alludes to a "Cox: Atomic Nuclear" in multiple entries of June and July in his 1940 diary.
 
Finally, the Davenport diaries are noteworthy for their idiosyncrasies: these include at least one volume authored by his wife, and the eclectic range of ephemera include inside and alongside the diaries. In a volume signed "G.L. Davenport"—and bearing numerous allusions to "Charles and Charlie throughout—Gertrude Davenport records a series of entries between 4/1/1905 to 3/16/1913. Of particular interest is her protest of race track gambling (4/19/1908 and 4/23/1908) and the dedication to Carnegie Lab, with a note of an encounter with Andrew Carnegie, who "disappointed the department by not adding to the endowment" (1/3/1910). Alongside accounts of various farm and house work (mending garments, cleaning, and, unusual for a homemaker, making concrete blocks), this diary also notes Gertrude's reading, namely Harper's Monthly and the Century.
 
Across the series 95 diaries, Davenport includes a host of rich and sometimes peculiar ephemera: a letter, dated March 20, 1901 enclosed in an 1889 notebook, an image of Robert E. Lee (7/13/1905), a doodle of a family crest (3/17/1910), pamphlets related to ornithology (1920) and major snowstorm (2/2/1930), membership cards for the Arts Center of New York (1925) and the American Museum of Natural History (1943), Davenport's 1922 and 1925 passports, programs for a meeting of the Eugenics Research Association (6/3/1930) and a symposium on "Theory and Development" at Davenport's home (3/21/1930), train tickets to Washington (9/5/1918 and 7/9/1919), the ferry service between Staten Island and Brooklyn (5/3/1925), and the Long Island Railroad schedule (1927), receipts, deposit slips, and scraps of paper labeled everything from "OBESITY" (8/19/1915) to "Committee on Ways and Means" (1917), and even wooden toothpicks, which Davenport appeared to have used as bookmarks (9/5/1918, 10/31/1918, 3/12/1933, and 5/7/1933).
 
Although Davenport rarely uses his diaries for reflection, his enclosure of ancillary materials reveals his personal networks and popular reading. Throughout the diaries, scholars will discover business and calling cards for William Cohill (1902), Edith Reeves (1911), "Brinkerhoff" (1911), Sidney Ball (1914), "Antipodes" (1914), George Laible (1915), H. Lundborg (1923), Charles Herrman (1925), E.J. Lidbetter (1927), Gebruder Dippe (1930), H.J. Parsen (1933), and Ji-Yen Rikamaru (1937). Davenport also regularly encloses snippets from newspapers, including a piece Russian mogul named M. Rachatnikoff who sought "the improvement of the human race" (12/9/1906), Mary Harriman's purchase of land and sheep (9/25/1911), op-eds on immigration policy (9/9/1915) and access to birth control (1920), an obituary for Dwight Comstock (9/16/1932), and reports of Nassau County budget cuts (11/9/1942).

The Charles Benedict Davenport Papers include 95 diaries—and numerous ancillary materials—spanning 66 years (1878-1944). In fact, the collection traverses Davenport's formative years and adult life, beginning with student notebooks that he maintained at the age of 12 to a five-year diary that culminates with an entry recorded less than two weeks before his death (dated 2/5/1944). Davenport's diaries contain a wealth of material valuable to researchers investigating his personal life, scientific research—especially the field of Eugenics—religion (Congregationalism), politics, and World War II. At least one diary, which spans 4/1/1905 to 3/16/1913, appears to have been maintained by his wife, Gertrude.
 
Davenport employed a host of different types of notebooks to record entries. Those include: Standard Diary, A Line a Day, Red Star Diary, Nassau Diary, Loesen Engagement Book, Daily Reminder, Vaughan's, New Census, Marquette, and various loosely bound notebooks. While he records weather conditions (often with temperatures), meetings, and accounts throughout those records, his earliest accounts proffer his most personal and narrative entries.
 
Between 1878-84, Davenport writes regularly about his religious upbringing, studies, work at the Polytechnic Institute, and political observations. Religion features prominently in Davenport's youth: In addition to regularly attending church and Sunday School, he records notes and thoughts about particular readings and sermons (consider for example 1/6/1878, 1/29/1882, and 2/16/1882). In a 1/22/1882 entry, he even notes the visit of a Mormon woman from Utah, which he later marks as a "principal personal event."
 
Alongside notes about subjects related to studies, Davenport records household chores (7/16/1881), recreational activities (walks, rides, croquet), trips (e.g. a summer visit to the New Hampshire White Mountains in 1884), cultural excursions (the American Museum of Natural History on 1/6/1879), personal readings (1/3/1881), and some of the first evidence of his interest in surveying (illustrations of a chapel hall, 1/2/1880). The young Davenport also demonstrated an unusual curiosity in current affairs and politics. For example, his first journal includes an enthusiastic account of election day (11/5-11/6/1878), and his 1881 diary features several entries dedicated to assassination of President James Garfield and ascension of Chester A. Arthur (9/26-9/30/1881). These early diaries are also some of Davenport's most playful: he self-consciously reflects on diary-writing (2/6-2/7/1878, 1878 memoranda, 1880 front matter, and 9/6/1880) and intersperses doodles to commemorate holidays (12/311878 and 2/22/1879, 5/30/1879, 6/1/1879).
 
Subsequent diaries are less narrative in nature, but illuminating their own right. Davenport maintains notebooks on subject area interests, including a journal entitled "Ornithology 1885" which includes migration charts from the American Ornithologists' Union," notebooks dedicated to topology, mineralogy, budding and regeneration, and research on the human brain (1885-1892), and various notebooks dedicated to the study of human inheritance. As Davenport's career begins to take off around the fin de siecle, he includes more notes related to lectures, seminars, student meetings, dinners, and lab work. His marriage to Gertrude Crotty surfaces in the five-year diary spanning 1899-1905 via birthday reminders (2/28/1899), city outings (9/11/1900), and notes related to their child, Janet (1/2/1899).
 
Researchers will find that Davenport's early-twentieth century diaries provide insights into his burgeoning career in genetics. In addition to notebooks pertaining to expeditions to the Biloxi, Mississippi (March 1901), Europe (September-October 1902 and 1909-10), and Mt. Washington (August 1908), a 1903 notebook features notes on "Topics of Inheritance" and allusions to work on a laboratory—almost certainly his Carnegie-funded lab in Cold Spring Harbor. Nevertheless, many of his entries could easily be confused with those of a farmer: Davenport records notes to purchase chicken feed, coal, grain, and rat poison, and a 1909-10 diary features numerous and meticulous illustrations of fish (October 1909 – March 1910). Concurrently, Davenport notes numerous meetings with leaders in genetics, botany, and zoology, including George Harrison Shull, Herbert Spencer Jennings, Edward Bagnall Poulton, Albert Francis Blakeslee, and Edmund Beecher Wilson. Perhaps most significantly, beginning around 1911, Davenport starts to reference Mary Harriman, who would later fund his work in eugenics.
 
Eugenics surface most directly in Davenport's diaries maintained throughout the 1910s and 1920s. Alongside regular visits to the "Harriman House," Davenport notes the opening of his laboratory ("Bio Lab Opens," 6/26/1912) and his increasing commitments to the field of eugenics. That includes notes on "Dwarfs of Lamar Lamar" (11/14/1911), reminders of "families to study (e.g. "chemists," "artists," "statesmen," "vocalists," and "naval" in his 1913 memoranda), and an account of "negative" and "positive eugenics" (January 1920). One notebook (dated "February 12") is less a diary than a set of eugenics lecture notes, including a "Field worker's guide" that describes the consequences of segregation, limitations of the law of heredity, and pages allocated for recording hair color, skin color, stature, mental activity, feeble-mindedness (e.g. pauperism, crime, insanity, criminality).
 
Between 1914-1930, Davenport makes numerous trips to Europe to study eugenics (including (1914, 1922, and 1929). His 1914 trip is explicitly labeled "Eugenics in Holland" (10/22). A series of loose, typed pages entitled "Diary of Trip to Europe, September 13 to October 31, 1922," includes notes on a lecture entitled "Das Mutations Problem" in Vienna (9/25) and his participation in the Second Commission of Eugenics through which he "Voted to admit Germany and all other, properly qualified countries to the Commission" (10/9). Perhaps most remarkably, at the end of that trip, Davenport records a meeting with Charles Darwin's son, Leonard: "At Lewes was met by Darwin and taken to his home in Sussex. Private conference on eugenical matters" (10/20).
 
That engagement carries home, where, in a 1930 diary, he includes a series of relevant newspaper clippings: "Racial related to a Racial Integrity Bill Signed" in Richmond, Virginia (3/14), "Extols African Marriage" (3/4), "Senate Refuses to Shelve Harris Quota Bill: Senate Again Rejects Motion by Glass aimed at Salvaging National origins Clause" (4/24), and "Dr. Adler Closes Psychology Clinic: Noted Viennese Scientist Declared Target of Medical Center Critics" (5/31). In some loose pages associated with that diary, Davenport compares a colleague (simply identified as "Gordon") to the Croatian-American geneticist Milislav Demerec: While Davenport finds Gordon "industrious and fertile in ideas," he adds that he is "not so brilliant as Demerec" (6/3).
 
Davenport's remaining diaries (1931-1944) mostly focus on various trips, with occasional mentions of the outbreak of World War II. The early-1930s feature a series of notebooks dedicated to travel in the Americas, including a "Western Trip" and "Trip to the West by Automobile" (which collectively span July-October 1931), as well as trips to Bermuda, Mexico, and Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia trip is noteworthy because Davenport explicitly notes an encounter with Russian-American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky. In his late-1930s journals, World War II surfaces, if only briefly. In a diary spanning 1937-39, Davenport notes Germany's seizure of Poland (9/1/1939) and Great Britain's subsequent declaration of war (9/3/1939). Curiously, he also alludes to a "Cox: Atomic Nuclear" in multiple entries of June and July in his 1940 diary.
 
Finally, the Davenport diaries are noteworthy for their idiosyncrasies: these include at least one volume authored by his wife, and the eclectic range of ephemera include inside and alongside the diaries. In a volume signed "G.L. Davenport"—and bearing numerous allusions to "Charles and Charlie throughout—Gertrude Davenport records a series of entries between 4/1/1905 to 3/16/1913. Of particular interest is her protest of race track gambling (4/19/1908 and 4/23/1908) and the dedication to Carnegie Lab, with a note of an encounter with Andrew Carnegie, who "disappointed the department by not adding to the endowment" (1/3/1910). Alongside accounts of various farm and house work (mending garments, cleaning, and, unusual for a homemaker, making concrete blocks), this diary also notes Gertrude's reading, namely Harper's Monthly and the Century.
 
Across the series 95 diaries, Davenport includes a host of rich and sometimes peculiar ephemera: a letter, dated March 20, 1901 enclosed in an 1889 notebook, an image of Robert E. Lee (7/13/1905), a doodle of a family crest (3/17/1910), pamphlets related to ornithology (1920) and major snowstorm (2/2/1930), membership cards for the Arts Center of New York (1925) and the American Museum of Natural History (1943), Davenport's 1922 and 1925 passports, programs for a meeting of the Eugenics Research Association (6/3/1930) and a symposium on "Theory and Development" at Davenport's home (3/21/1930), train tickets to Washington (9/5/1918 and 7/9/1919), the ferry service between Staten Island and Brooklyn (5/3/1925), and the Long Island Railroad schedule (1927), receipts, deposit slips, and scraps of paper labeled everything from "OBESITY" (8/19/1915) to "Committee on Ways and Means" (1917), and even wooden toothpicks, which Davenport appeared to have used as bookmarks (9/5/1918, 10/31/1918, 3/12/1933, and 5/7/1933).
 
Although Davenport rarely uses his diaries for reflection, his enclosure of ancillary materials reveals his personal networks and popular reading. Throughout the diaries, scholars will discover business and calling cards for William Cohill (1902), Edith Reeves (1911), "Brinkerhoff" (1911), Sidney Ball (1914), "Antipodes" (1914), George Laible (1915), H. Lundborg (1923), Charles Herrman (1925), E.J. Lidbetter (1927), Gebruder Dippe (1930), H.J. Parsen (1933), and Ji-Yen Rikamaru (1937). Davenport also regularly encloses snippets from newspapers, including a piece Russian mogul named M. Rachatnikoff who sought "the improvement of the human race" (12/9/1906), Mary Harriman's purchase of land and sheep (9/25/1911), op-eds on immigration policy (9/9/1915) and access to birth control (1920), an obituary for Dwight Comstock (9/16/1932), and reports of Nassau County budget cuts (11/9/1942).

The majority Vaux diaries are maintained at least two generations of George Vaux (1800-1927). Those volumes include entries that may interest researchers investigating late-antebellum politics, religion, and Vaux family history (1854-59 diaries), postbellum weather and meteorological observations (1853-1915 daybooks), late-nineteenth century architecture and urban development ("Llsyfran Diary," 1886-1915), and the religious practices of American Friends in the nineteenth century (1825-1927 and 1886-1901 diaries). However, there are also noteworthy volumes from William Vaux, Richard Vaux, Samuel Sansom, and Mary Vaux.
 
William Vaux
 
The diaries of William Vaux (1883-1908) may interest researchers exploring Philadelphia regional history, western expeditions, late-nineteenth century science (especially photography), late-nineteenth century presidential politics, and the 1893 World's Fair, for which Vaux includes a dedicated volume. In addition to accounts of education, marriage, funerals, and the religious practices of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, William Vaux offers at least one account of Brigham Young and the Mormons (1883 diary). Most volumes emphasize his participation in university life (Haverford College and the Drexel Institute), athletics (the American Alpine Club), and postbellum science (the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, the Quaker Asylum and Penitentiary), with occasional notes pertaining to presidential politics, such as the election and assassination of William McKinley.
 
Richard Vaux
 
Two volumes contained in the Richard Vaux papers warrant careful attention. A typed transcript of a 1781 diary (1/1-10/27) furnishes an account of a loyalist during the American Revolution. As detailed in George Vaux's short introduction to the diary, Vaux apprenticed with Samuel Sansom in Philadelphia beginning in 1768. (The original diary, which begins in March 1779 is unavailable.) A loyalist, he spent much of the war in London and returned to Philadelphia shortly after the revolution (c. 1784). Each entry includes paragraph-length account of personal affairs of and socializing with the English upper class, typically beginning with breakfast meetings and running until often quite late at night (usually Vaux notes that he returns home around 11 or midnight, though several entries are much later). Typical social events include breakfasts and dinners (and the individuals involved), pipe smoking, excursions around England, theater showings (e.g. Covent Garden Play House), daily visits to coffee shops (especially Lloyd's Coffee House), painting exhibitions (including the work of Benjamin West), and the Free Mason Lodge. As George Vaux notes in his introduction, Richard is a "man of the world." He also spends a fairly extraordinary amount of time and money on inns and taverns (including Ambrose Lloyd's, Queens Head Tavern, Bull Tavern, March's Tavern, and Falcon Inn). Equally descriptive are his meticulous accounts of expenses: coffee houses and coaches are the most frequent expenses, though Richard Vaux also notes spending on charity, tobacco, tea, newspapers, baths, books, brandy, and milk.
 
Beginning in September 1781, Richard Vaux embarks on a transatlantic voyage, during which he measures daily progress (distance traveled) and coordinates (latitudes). His time on board is marked by ubiquitous illness, particularly sea sickness, injuries, and fevers. The reader also gains a rich sense of the sailors' diets (including pickled tongues) and daily trials (e.g. pests, as Richard records "dismal nights with the bugs" on multiple occasions, including 10/8 and 10/16). Notably, the narrative ends when the ship is boarded by the Hendrik Privateer, a New England ship under the command of Thomas Bensom, which seizes their brig as a "prize to America" and ransacks their stores (10/26).
 
Samuel Sansom
 
Also included in the Richard Vaux papers is the European travel journal of Samuel Sansom (1759-1760), which provides some of the lengthiest, most conversational, and public-facing diary entries researchers will encounter anywhere in the APS collections. The Sansom diary opens with a note from his former apprentice, Richard Vaux, and other front matter suggests that the journal was transcribed at sea from loose pages so that the author could enable his friends to "partake with him in the entertainment he experiences (in the days of his youth)." The volume also features an excerpt from Elizabeth Drinker's journal with a silhouette of Sansom and a note that Sansom left London on 4/1/1760 and returned to Philadelphia on 5/4/1760.
 
Sansom's account begins at the outset of his transatlantic journey, and pays significant attention to travel delays
 
in fact, leaks require his ship to return to Philadelphia just nine days after departure. Upon arriving in London, Sansom travels widely and socializes continuously, particularly with the English upper class. He attends Quaker meetings, frequents coffee houses, and he is preoccupied with various curiosities, from wax figures (11/13/1759) to a dwarf and giant (2/22/1760). Sansom proves a studious observer of the mechanics of production (e.g. grist mills), English towns and cities (especially Birmingham), and Quaker sermons and religious practices. He regularly intersperses prosaic observations with grand musings (reference the 12/20/1759 and 2/1/1760 entries for examples) intended to instruct and delight the friends he imagines will later read his volume with rapt anticipation.
 
Mary Vaux
 
Finally, the Mary Walsh James Vaux maintained a diary in 1906 and for most of the period spanning 1921-1951. Those 40 volumes may interest researchers interested in women's history, Philadelphia regional history, Vaux family history, western expeditions, and the outbreak of WWII. Vaux's diaries include inspirational quotes, notes from religious meetings, lectures, and receptions, shopping lists, addresses, and notes on the weather. Her entries frequently reference the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting (Society of Friends) as well as the League of Women Voters, Female Society for the Relief and Employ of the Poor, and the Salvation Army. Diaries sometimes include ephemera, such as dried leaves and photographs (1927).
 
Although Mary Vaux tends to record cursory notes, sometimes her entries provide insights into her emotional state. Vaux appears to have suffered from depression (reference, for example, 10/29/1927, 11/3/1927, 11/13/1939, and 5/4/1940) and often register significant shifts in mood (compare 9/24/1906 to 11/4/1906). A notebook also appears to include numerous personal letters Mary Vaux collected from her husband, George Vaux, spanning 1932-34. (Each entry begins, "George Vaux is here to speak to Mary"). World War II surfaces in her later diary entries. While Mary Vaux rarely discusses politics or war, her 1940 Pomernatz diary includes draft numbers in place of the 10/27-29 entries. The 12/7/1941 entry in her Excelsior diary and the 12/8/1941 entry in her Pomernatz diary note the outbreak of World War II.

The sprawling Vaux Family Papers include at least 160 volumes of diaries traversing two centuries of American history (1759-1951). While those journals are maintained predominantly by generations of George, Richard, and William Vaux the collection is bookended by Richard Vaux (1781) and Mary Walsh James Vaux (1906-1951), both of whom supply some of the most surprising records in the collection. (In fact, the Vaux family included some 10 Georges, three Richards, and two Williams.) Reading across these papers, researchers will discover accounts of early American religion during the Second Great Awakening (especially the Society of Friends and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), European towns and cities between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, late-nineteenth century conservation (with accounts of 1880s Yosemite and Theodore Roosevelt), ante and postbellum U.S. politics (including short-lived factions such as the Locofocos), the fields of business, architecture, and photography, and women's history.
 
The majority Vaux diaries are maintained at least two generations of George Vaux (1800-1927). Those volumes include entries that may interest researchers investigating late-antebellum politics, religion, and Vaux family history (1854-59 diaries), postbellum weather and meteorological observations (1853-1915 daybooks), late-nineteenth century architecture and urban development ("Llsyfran Diary," 1886-1915), and the religious practices of American Friends in the nineteenth century (1825-1927 and 1886-1901 diaries). However, there are also noteworthy volumes from William Vaux, Richard Vaux, Samuel Sansom, and Mary Vaux.
 
William Vaux
 
The diaries of William Vaux (1883-1908) may interest researchers exploring Philadelphia regional history, western expeditions, late-nineteenth century science (especially photography), late-nineteenth century presidential politics, and the 1893 World's Fair, for which Vaux includes a dedicated volume. In addition to accounts of education, marriage, funerals, and the religious practices of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, William Vaux offers at least one account of Brigham Young and the Mormons (1883 diary). Most volumes emphasize his participation in university life (Haverford College and the Drexel Institute), athletics (the American Alpine Club), and postbellum science (the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, the Quaker Asylum and Penitentiary), with occasional notes pertaining to presidential politics, such as the election and assassination of William McKinley.
 
Richard Vaux
 
Two volumes contained in the Richard Vaux papers warrant careful attention. A typed transcript of a 1781 diary (1/1-10/27) furnishes an account of a loyalist during the American Revolution. As detailed in George Vaux's short introduction to the diary, Vaux apprenticed with Samuel Sansom in Philadelphia beginning in 1768. (The original diary, which begins in March 1779 is unavailable.) A loyalist, he spent much of the war in London and returned to Philadelphia shortly after the revolution (c. 1784). Each entry includes paragraph-length account of personal affairs of and socializing with the English upper class, typically beginning with breakfast meetings and running until often quite late at night (usually Vaux notes that he returns home around 11 or midnight, though several entries are much later). Typical social events include breakfasts and dinners (and the individuals involved), pipe smoking, excursions around England, theater showings (e.g. Covent Garden Play House), daily visits to coffee shops (especially Lloyd's Coffee House), painting exhibitions (including the work of Benjamin West), and the Free Mason Lodge. As George Vaux notes in his introduction, Richard is a "man of the world." He also spends a fairly extraordinary amount of time and money on inns and taverns (including Ambrose Lloyd's, Queens Head Tavern, Bull Tavern, March's Tavern, and Falcon Inn). Equally descriptive are his meticulous accounts of expenses: coffee houses and coaches are the most frequent expenses, though Richard Vaux also notes spending on charity, tobacco, tea, newspapers, baths, books, brandy, and milk.
 
Beginning in September 1781, Richard Vaux embarks on a transatlantic voyage, during which he measures daily progress (distance traveled) and coordinates (latitudes). His time on board is marked by ubiquitous illness, particularly sea sickness, injuries, and fevers. The reader also gains a rich sense of the sailors' diets (including pickled tongues) and daily trials (e.g. pests, as Richard records "dismal nights with the bugs" on multiple occasions, including 10/8 and 10/16). Notably, the narrative ends when the ship is boarded by the Hendrik Privateer, a New England ship under the command of Thomas Bensom, which seizes their brig as a "prize to America" and ransacks their stores (10/26).
 
Samuel Sansom
 
Also included in the Richard Vaux papers is the European travel journal of Samuel Sansom (1759-1760), which provides some of the lengthiest, most conversational, and public-facing diary entries researchers will encounter anywhere in the APS collections. The Sansom diary opens with a note from his former apprentice, Richard Vaux, and other front matter suggests that the journal was transcribed at sea from loose pages so that the author could enable his friends to "partake with him in the entertainment he experiences (in the days of his youth)." The volume also features an excerpt from Elizabeth Drinker's journal with a silhouette of Sansom and a note that Sansom left London on 4/1/1760 and returned to Philadelphia on 5/4/1760.
 
Sansom's account begins at the outset of his transatlantic journey, and pays significant attention to travel delays
 
in fact, leaks require his ship to return to Philadelphia just nine days after departure. Upon arriving in London, Sansom travels widely and socializes continuously, particularly with the English upper class. He attends Quaker meetings, frequents coffee houses, and he is preoccupied with various curiosities, from wax figures (11/13/1759) to a dwarf and giant (2/22/1760). Sansom proves a studious observer of the mechanics of production (e.g. grist mills), English towns and cities (especially Birmingham), and Quaker sermons and religious practices. He regularly intersperses prosaic observations with grand musings (reference the 12/20/1759 and 2/1/1760 entries for examples) intended to instruct and delight the friends he imagines will later read his volume with rapt anticipation.
 
Mary Vaux
 
Finally, the Mary Walsh James Vaux maintained a diary in 1906 and for most of the period spanning 1921-1951. Those 40 volumes may interest researchers interested in women's history, Philadelphia regional history, Vaux family history, western expeditions, and the outbreak of WWII. Vaux's diaries include inspirational quotes, notes from religious meetings, lectures, and receptions, shopping lists, addresses, and notes on the weather. Her entries frequently reference the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting (Society of Friends) as well as the League of Women Voters, Female Society for the Relief and Employ of the Poor, and the Salvation Army. Diaries sometimes include ephemera, such as dried leaves and photographs (1927).
 
Although Mary Vaux tends to record cursory notes, sometimes her entries provide insights into her emotional state. Vaux appears to have suffered from depression (reference, for example, 10/29/1927, 11/3/1927, 11/13/1939, and 5/4/1940) and often register significant shifts in mood (compare 9/24/1906 to 11/4/1906). A notebook also appears to include numerous personal letters Mary Vaux collected from her husband, George Vaux, spanning 1932-34. (Each entry begins, "George Vaux is here to speak to Mary"). World War II surfaces in her later diary entries. While Mary Vaux rarely discusses politics or war, her 1940 Pomernatz diary includes draft numbers in place of the 10/27-29 entries. The 12/7/1941 entry in her Excelsior diary and the 12/8/1941 entry in her Pomernatz diary note the outbreak of World War II.