Warner's diaries provide an intimate record of his far-flung travels. Alongside visits to zoological and mineralogical collections, Warner patronizes numerous places of worship, for which he often provides sketches of murals and architectural features. (His most impressive color illustrations begin around March 1863). Notably, he visits a Jewish synagogue in the Netherlands (10/13/1862) and a mosque in the Middle East (3/31/1865). He copies verses from a tombstone (9/8/1862), and when he tours the Egyptian pyramids, he records hieroglyphics (4/26/1865). He encloses descriptions of natural scenes—e.g. the Wetterhorn (8/31/1862) and Rhone Glacier (9/4/1862)—and also urban spaces, including a locomotive works in Amsterdam (1/26/1863), a foundry in Greenock (1/30/1863), a prison in York (4/7/1863), a gypsy settlement in Romania (6/13/1865), and even an early account of the Grand Kremlin Palace (8/2/1868).
 
Throughout those travels, Warner recollects his native Pennsylvania to draw evocative geographic and social comparisons. For example, he equates a town outside Belgrade to Burlington on the Delaware (6/9/1865). Upon meeting a foreman at machine shop, he compares the conditions of the poor in America and Germany (8/25/1862). Of particular note, he compares the governor of Nazareth to a "Philadelphia negro" (4/15/1865).
 
At various points in his travels, Warner is compelled to confront U.S. domestic affairs, most especially the Civil War. For example, traveling by rail in Germany in late-1865, he writes, "Met in the [train] car Mr. Joseph Kommer, Lincoln Logan Co., Illinois, a few months back to Germany, now on his way home via Hamburg. He had served in the Northern Army
 
related many things respecting the war and was a good union man" (11/8/1865). Several years later, he visits a castle where he notes a "revolver presented to the King by President Lincoln" (7/9/1868). Although Warner rarely discusses politics directly, he registers his own political activities and sympathies. For example, he attends a "Peace Society" (5/19/1863), a "temperance tea" (9/15/1863), and a lecture on "dwellings for workingmen" (1/6/1866). He records at least one conversation about U.S. nativist movements, particularly the Astor Place Riots, writing, "Met an Irishman who had been in the U.S. some years ago. He doubted whether the Irish, in New York had been incited—as a clan, especially—to take part in the late New York riots, and on account of jealousy of the blacks as competitors for work—he was further opposed to Mr. Lincoln's emancipation edict" (8/18/1863). In another prescient entry, he records an exchange with a Polish miller about poll taxes. "A miller spoke to me, among other subjects, of Poland," Warner writes. "He said Austria and Prussia assist to subjugate Poland, because 'they are all tyrants together.' Of our country, he said there would soon be poll tax" (9/14/1864).
 
When it comes to the topic of slavery, Warner reveals abolitionist sympathies via ephemera. He encloses a newspaper clipping from "Aborigine Protection Society," after which he remarks on the emigration of freed slaves to Liberia (5/20/1863), and encloses another clipping entitled "Negro Emancipation" (6/17/1863).
 
Scholars of nineteenth century material culture will be richly rewarded by the diaries. Alongside hand-drawn maps of buildings, cities, and architectural features, Warner encloses numerous newspaper clippings (e.g. (1/10/1863), engravings (9/27/1864), advertisements (7/9/1865), and theatrical programs (10/6/1865). While the majority of those materials are in English, some ephemera—and Warner's own entries—are in German, French, or Italian.

With 55 volumes spanning 7/8/1862-11/23/1872, the John Warner diaries provide a detailed account of his time abroad (1862-1868) and travels throughout Europe. Although many entries are devoted to talks and lectures (mostly pertaining to zoology), Warner proves also a studious observer of people, cultures, and cultural and religious institutions, which he records through numerous sketches and ephemera. In fact, these volumes present a wealth of research opportunities for scholars of material culture, thanks to Warner's curation of nineteenth-century newspaper clippings, advertisements, programs, and personal illustrations.
 
Warner's diaries provide an intimate record of his far-flung travels. Alongside visits to zoological and mineralogical collections, Warner patronizes numerous places of worship, for which he often provides sketches of murals and architectural features. (His most impressive color illustrations begin around March 1863). Notably, he visits a Jewish synagogue in the Netherlands (10/13/1862) and a mosque in the Middle East (3/31/1865). He copies verses from a tombstone (9/8/1862), and when he tours the Egyptian pyramids, he records hieroglyphics (4/26/1865). He encloses descriptions of natural scenes—e.g. the Wetterhorn (8/31/1862) and Rhone Glacier (9/4/1862)—and also urban spaces, including a locomotive works in Amsterdam (1/26/1863), a foundry in Greenock (1/30/1863), a prison in York (4/7/1863), a gypsy settlement in Romania (6/13/1865), and even an early account of the Grand Kremlin Palace (8/2/1868).
 
Throughout those travels, Warner recollects his native Pennsylvania to draw evocative geographic and social comparisons. For example, he equates a town outside Belgrade to Burlington on the Delaware (6/9/1865). Upon meeting a foreman at machine shop, he compares the conditions of the poor in America and Germany (8/25/1862). Of particular note, he compares the governor of Nazareth to a "Philadelphia negro" (4/15/1865).
 
At various points in his travels, Warner is compelled to confront U.S. domestic affairs, most especially the Civil War. For example, traveling by rail in Germany in late-1865, he writes, "Met in the [train] car Mr. Joseph Kommer, Lincoln Logan Co., Illinois, a few months back to Germany, now on his way home via Hamburg. He had served in the Northern Army
 
related many things respecting the war and was a good union man" (11/8/1865). Several years later, he visits a castle where he notes a "revolver presented to the King by President Lincoln" (7/9/1868). Although Warner rarely discusses politics directly, he registers his own political activities and sympathies. For example, he attends a "Peace Society" (5/19/1863), a "temperance tea" (9/15/1863), and a lecture on "dwellings for workingmen" (1/6/1866). He records at least one conversation about U.S. nativist movements, particularly the Astor Place Riots, writing, "Met an Irishman who had been in the U.S. some years ago. He doubted whether the Irish, in New York had been incited—as a clan, especially—to take part in the late New York riots, and on account of jealousy of the blacks as competitors for work—he was further opposed to Mr. Lincoln's emancipation edict" (8/18/1863). In another prescient entry, he records an exchange with a Polish miller about poll taxes. "A miller spoke to me, among other subjects, of Poland," Warner writes. "He said Austria and Prussia assist to subjugate Poland, because 'they are all tyrants together.' Of our country, he said there would soon be poll tax" (9/14/1864).
 
When it comes to the topic of slavery, Warner reveals abolitionist sympathies via ephemera. He encloses a newspaper clipping from "Aborigine Protection Society," after which he remarks on the emigration of freed slaves to Liberia (5/20/1863), and encloses another clipping entitled "Negro Emancipation" (6/17/1863).
 
Scholars of nineteenth century material culture will be richly rewarded by the diaries. Alongside hand-drawn maps of buildings, cities, and architectural features, Warner encloses numerous newspaper clippings (e.g. (1/10/1863), engravings (9/27/1864), advertisements (7/9/1865), and theatrical programs (10/6/1865). While the majority of those materials are in English, some ephemera—and Warner's own entries—are in German, French, or Italian.

Hiltzheimer provides a detailed and textured account of the young republic through scrupulous attention to the Constitutional Convention, election and reelection of George Washington, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Wyoming Valley incident, and the ascension of John Adams. Thanks to his career in Philadelphia politics (elected as a representative of the city in the Assembly in 1786), he furnishes first-hand accounts of George Washington, the funerals of Benjamin Franklin and David Rittenhouse, and numerous entries devoted to Pennsylvania luminaries including John and Clement Biddle, Joseph Morris, Levi Hollingsworth, Henry Drinker, and Timothy Matlack.
 
Hiltzheimer's journal also records family and personal details, including plague of locusts in 1766 and 1783, a great fire in 1794, and the death of his wife (3/11/1790) and loss of both his son and daughter to Yellow Fever (11/28/1793 and 12/29/1794 respectively). Indeed, his account of the Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia is particularly exhaustive, with daily records of burials between 9/19-12/31/1793, as well as further accounts during the 1797 crisis, during which he ultimately contracted the disease that led to his death in September 1798.

The Jacob Hiltzheimer Diary spans 28 volumes and offers insight into the social life and customs of Philadelphia between the late colonial period to the early republic (1765-1798). Hiltzheimer describes a wide range of events, such as sleigh riding to ice skating to attending a large celebration of King George's Birthday on the banks of the Schuylkill with over 380 Philadelphians (before Independence). During the imperial crisis, Hiltzheimer's observations provide an interesting perspective on the events happening within the city, including the repeal of the Stamp Act, French troop movements, Cornwallis's surrender, and ensuing mob violence against suspected loyalists (e.g. 10/24/1781).
 
Hiltzheimer provides a detailed and textured account of the young republic through scrupulous attention to the Constitutional Convention, election and reelection of George Washington, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Wyoming Valley incident, and the ascension of John Adams. Thanks to his career in Philadelphia politics (elected as a representative of the city in the Assembly in 1786), he furnishes first-hand accounts of George Washington, the funerals of Benjamin Franklin and David Rittenhouse, and numerous entries devoted to Pennsylvania luminaries including John and Clement Biddle, Joseph Morris, Levi Hollingsworth, Henry Drinker, and Timothy Matlack.
 
Hiltzheimer's journal also records family and personal details, including plague of locusts in 1766 and 1783, a great fire in 1794, and the death of his wife (3/11/1790) and loss of both his son and daughter to Yellow Fever (11/28/1793 and 12/29/1794 respectively). Indeed, his account of the Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia is particularly exhaustive, with daily records of burials between 9/19-12/31/1793, as well as further accounts during the 1797 crisis, during which he ultimately contracted the disease that led to his death in September 1798.

As secretary to John Anstey, Loyalists' Claims Commissioner, Robert Woodruff offers a detailed record of the U.S. in the early national period from the unique vantage of an English loyalist. His journal (1785-1788) documents his trip through the Northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and Southeastern states (as far south as Georgia). In his travels, Woodruff references many colonial leaders, including George Washington (10/27/1986), Samuel Vaughan (11/2/1786), and Benjamin Franklin (11/4/1786). Notably, Woodruff dines in house where "Lord Cornwallis in December 1776 held a council of war whether he should cross the Delaware to attack General Washington" (10/30/1786), witnesses Franklin's reelection as President of the Pennsylvania state house (11/4/1786), and mentions the American Philosophical Society (5/8/1787).
 

The first three volumes in the Albert C. Peale Papers are the most idiosyncratic. They include a daybook with weather observations (3/10-5/18/1864), a diary associated with a tour of Washington, D.C. during President Andrew Johnson's administration (c.1865-1869), and a lecture notebook pertaining to studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Of those early volumes, A. C. Peale's diary of his tour of Washington D.C. is perhaps most noteworthy. It recounts his travels from Philadelphia through Wilmington and Baltimore, tours of monuments and government buildings, including the U.S. Patent Office, Government Printing Office, and White House, and a handshake with President Johnson during that tour (2/7/1865).
 
The remaining six diaries (1872-1877) are devoted to various western expeditions in what is today Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. In his first diary (5/15-7/20/1872), A. C. Peale recounts his travel by rail from Philadelphia to Omaha, from which he would conduct his western expeditions. The second volume (5/29-8/15/1873), devotes significant attention to his mineralogical work, including gathering fossils, documenting canyons and volcanic peaks, and ascending various peaks and plateaus. Notably, he references photographer William Henry Jackson, who he writes "disturbed us to take a picture." (8/8/1873). The next two diaries (8/16-10/26/1873 and 5/14/1873-7/18/1874) recount the movement of the party over the next year, most especially campsites, weather problems, and travel constraints. The latter volume also records trip to Savannah (11/20/1873) and includes some accounts in the back of the journal.
 
The final two volumes continue in much the same vein, but offer records of interactions with Bannock and Shosoni Indians. The diary dated 7/19-11/10/1874 documents A. C. Peale's expeditions along branches of the Gunnison River, during which he encounters local tribes on multiple occasions (8/29/1874 and 9/20/1874). The final diary (5/27-10/9/1877), which corresponds with trips into western Wyoming, records numerous interactions with Bannock and Shosoni. For example, A. C. Peale writes that a Shosoni woman shares news of a fight between the whites and the Sioux (6/7/1877), and he commends the English of Bannock outside a ranch near Smith Fork (6/29/1877). Not all interactions are harmonious, however. A. C. Peale also records that Bannock kill two teamsters (8/8/1877) and that one of his his party (Gibbon) loses 300 new guns in a fight (8/23/1877).

Albert C. Peale Papers contain nine volumes that might be classified as diaries. These volumes traverse the American Civil War and Reconstruction period (1864-1877) and provide a window into the exploration and conquest of what is today Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The great-grandson of Charles Willson Peale, Albert Charles Peale was a prominent geologist in and author of numerous books in geology, mineralogy, and paleobotany. His journals offer a glimpse into his contributions to the Ferdinand Hayden expeditions, which explored and mapped the western United States. In furnishing numerous accounts of local indigenous peoples, including the Bannock and Shosoni, these volumes may interest scholars researching Native America, western exploration, the fields of geology and mineralogy, and the history of science.
 
The first three volumes in the Albert C. Peale Papers are the most idiosyncratic. They include a daybook with weather observations (3/10-5/18/1864), a diary associated with a tour of Washington, D.C. during President Andrew Johnson's administration (c.1865-1869), and a lecture notebook pertaining to studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Of those early volumes, A. C. Peale's diary of his tour of Washington D.C. is perhaps most noteworthy. It recounts his travels from Philadelphia through Wilmington and Baltimore, tours of monuments and government buildings, including the U.S. Patent Office, Government Printing Office, and White House, and a handshake with President Johnson during that tour (2/7/1865).
 
The remaining six diaries (1872-1877) are devoted to various western expeditions in what is today Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. In his first diary (5/15-7/20/1872), A. C. Peale recounts his travel by rail from Philadelphia to Omaha, from which he would conduct his western expeditions. The second volume (5/29-8/15/1873), devotes significant attention to his mineralogical work, including gathering fossils, documenting canyons and volcanic peaks, and ascending various peaks and plateaus. Notably, he references photographer William Henry Jackson, who he writes "disturbed us to take a picture." (8/8/1873). The next two diaries (8/16-10/26/1873 and 5/14/1873-7/18/1874) recount the movement of the party over the next year, most especially campsites, weather problems, and travel constraints. The latter volume also records trip to Savannah (11/20/1873) and includes some accounts in the back of the journal.
 
The final two volumes continue in much the same vein, but offer records of interactions with Bannock and Shosoni Indians. The diary dated 7/19-11/10/1874 documents A. C. Peale's expeditions along branches of the Gunnison River, during which he encounters local tribes on multiple occasions (8/29/1874 and 9/20/1874). The final diary (5/27-10/9/1877), which corresponds with trips into western Wyoming, records numerous interactions with Bannock and Shosoni. For example, A. C. Peale writes that a Shosoni woman shares news of a fight between the whites and the Sioux (6/7/1877), and he commends the English of Bannock outside a ranch near Smith Fork (6/29/1877). Not all interactions are harmonious, however. A. C. Peale also records that Bannock kill two teamsters (8/8/1877) and that one of his his party (Gibbon) loses 300 new guns in a fight (8/23/1877).

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.
 

Researchers interested in Haney's biography will find that these volumes meticulously document his education, literary interests, and career. Volumes from the 1890s capture his voracious reading habits. For example, in August 1895, he reads and comments upon Charles Darwin's Descent of Man (8/11) and the Bible (8/18) in the same week. Throughout his journals, Haney provides a useful homespun index at the end of each journal. Beginning in 1898, he adds annual reviews in which he takes stock of his progress. (Those reviews become so exhaustive that, by 1907, he begins adding subcategories of assessment, such as "My Relation to the World At Large," "Literary Work," "Travel," "People Whom I Met," "Drama & Music," "Reading," "Financial," "Family Affairs"). Scholars interested in Philadelphia regional history will note that these early volumes recount Haney frequent visits to book dealer A.S.W. Rosenbach, during which the two discuss books and university affairs (e.g. 6/10/1896, 8/17/1899).
 
Haney's professional career begins in earnest in 1900, when he accepts his position at Central High School. While he acknowledges the significance of the offer at the time (6/29/1900), Haney reflects at greater length in a later entry (9/4/1935). In that year's annual review, he summarizes his progress: "I am inclined to regard 1900 as the most significant year thus far…the development of the bibliography, our experience at Washington and New York
 
the completion of my first novel
 
the work on my thesis
 
my appointment at the High School--truly a diversified array of interests." While Haney's bibliography of Coleridge wouldn't be published for some time (he celebrates receipt of his copy on 9/1/1903), the next twenty years bring significant milestones in his career: Haney becomes department chair (1905 review) and, after a "strenuous campaign," is elected president of Central High School (1920 review).
 
Alongside his literary interests, Haney proves a studious observer of contemporary economics and world affairs. Although he evinces sympathies for laissez-faire capitalism (reference an excerpt from the 1926 annual review), Haney records labor strikes from the 1890s (12/17-18/1895 and 1/3/1896), Black Tuesday (10/29/29, 1929 annual review), and the lived experience of the Great Depression (1930-34 annual reviews). Haney also visits the Chicago World's Fair (1933 review) and discusses the Blizzard of 1899 (2/10/1899), Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight (5/21/1927), the discovery of Pluto (1930 review), Hughes' flight around the world (1938 review), and Russia's launch of a satellite, which he calls a "catastrophe for the West" (1957 review).
 
Haney also demonstrates a sustained interest in domestic (Republican) politics. After the McKinley assassination, he recounts reports of news over almost two weeks (9/7-9/19/1901). He reports considerable excitement concerning President Roosevelt's visit to CHS (11/12/1902), and celebrates the electoral gains of our "virile president" (11/9/1904). (Haney thinks less highly of President Wilson.) He records ratification of women's suffrage (1920 annual review), repeal of 18th Amendment, and passage of the 20th and 21st Amendments (1933 review). A tireless critic of F.D.R., Haney bemoans his election (11/8-9/1932) and reelections (1936 review, 11/6/1940, 11/8/1944), needling his "imprudent Supreme Court Packing idea" (1937 review) and fretting that, "A new American Gestapo set up in Washington is ready to hound any citizen who criticizes the Government" (1944 review). In fact, Haney's critiques of F.D.R. offer a window into conservative backlash against the New Deal, as excerpted in Selected Quotations (1935 review). In one of his final journals, he also notes the emergence of new racial coalitions associated with the Civil Rights era, writing, "The Negroes, once grateful to the G.O.P. for bringing about their liberation in the South, have turned their backs on the Republicans and cheerfully vote for politicians who given them untold millions in 'relief' of every sort" (1957 review).
 
Finally, war historians will discover countless accounts of U.S. military activity between the Spanish-American War and World War II. Haney celebrates the destruction of Pascual Cervera y Topete's naval fleet (7/4/1898), and notes with increasing alarm the "gathering war clouds in Europe" (7/30/1914, 1914 annual review). In his next annual review, he mourns Western civilization: "The year 1915 has probably been the most discreditable year since the dawn of civilization-discreditable to civilization and to all that such a state of existence implies. The Great European War, begun about August 1st of the previous year, ran a full twelve-month of slaughter during 1915 with no end in sight…The good name of Germany and of the Teutonic culture has been thrown to the winds. The future of the world's peace demands the defeat of the power that stands for militarism and for brute force" (1915 review). Haney marks Armistice Day as "one of the remarkable days of my life" (11/11/1918), but he soon finds himself profoundly disappointed with reconstruction efforts, as excerpted in Selected Quotations (1920 annual review). Haney's 1920s and 1930s entries offer a sobering account of the failures of League of Nations and the rise of Hitler and Mussolini. His volumes record milestones of World War II, from the attack on Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941) to the bombing of Hiroshima (8/6-7/1941). "It was epochal," writes Haney. "Papers & radio features the devastating atomic bomb. A new age has begun" (8/7/1941).

John Louis Haney papers contain 33 volumes that Haney maintained from the age of 10 until a year before his death (1887-1959). The first twelve volumes are devoted to his educations (including Sunday School, German School, and the University of Pennsylvania), whereas subsequent volumes trace his career as professor of English (1900-1920) and president of Philadelphia's Central High School (1920-1943), during which Haney published numerous books on Coleridge and Shakespeare. These volumes may interest a host of different scholars—certainly those exploring twentieth-century education and the field of literary criticism—but well as those researching the Great Depression, the 1933 World's Fair, twentieth century U.S. politics (particularly for conservative critique of F.D.R.), the institutional history of the American Philosophical Society (in which Haney was elected a member in 1929), and the history of the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. Researchers may also choose to mine this collection for its rich ephemera, including self-portraits interspersed in diaries (e.g. 1898, 1904-6, 1910-13, 1918-22), as well as an ancillary book of newspaper clippings, a folder of other ephemera, and two volumes of his personal reading lists.
 
Researchers interested in Haney's biography will find that these volumes meticulously document his education, literary interests, and career. Volumes from the 1890s capture his voracious reading habits. For example, in August 1895, he reads and comments upon Charles Darwin's Descent of Man (8/11) and the Bible (8/18) in the same week. Throughout his journals, Haney provides a useful homespun index at the end of each journal. Beginning in 1898, he adds annual reviews in which he takes stock of his progress. (Those reviews become so exhaustive that, by 1907, he begins adding subcategories of assessment, such as "My Relation to the World At Large," "Literary Work," "Travel," "People Whom I Met," "Drama & Music," "Reading," "Financial," "Family Affairs"). Scholars interested in Philadelphia regional history will note that these early volumes recount Haney frequent visits to book dealer A.S.W. Rosenbach, during which the two discuss books and university affairs (e.g. 6/10/1896, 8/17/1899).
 
Haney's professional career begins in earnest in 1900, when he accepts his position at Central High School. While he acknowledges the significance of the offer at the time (6/29/1900), Haney reflects at greater length in a later entry (9/4/1935). In that year's annual review, he summarizes his progress: "I am inclined to regard 1900 as the most significant year thus far…the development of the bibliography, our experience at Washington and New York
 
the completion of my first novel
 
the work on my thesis
 
my appointment at the High School--truly a diversified array of interests." While Haney's bibliography of Coleridge wouldn't be published for some time (he celebrates receipt of his copy on 9/1/1903), the next twenty years bring significant milestones in his career: Haney becomes department chair (1905 review) and, after a "strenuous campaign," is elected president of Central High School (1920 review).
 
Alongside his literary interests, Haney proves a studious observer of contemporary economics and world affairs. Although he evinces sympathies for laissez-faire capitalism (reference an excerpt from the 1926 annual review), Haney records labor strikes from the 1890s (12/17-18/1895 and 1/3/1896), Black Tuesday (10/29/29, 1929 annual review), and the lived experience of the Great Depression (1930-34 annual reviews). Haney also visits the Chicago World's Fair (1933 review) and discusses the Blizzard of 1899 (2/10/1899), Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight (5/21/1927), the discovery of Pluto (1930 review), Hughes' flight around the world (1938 review), and Russia's launch of a satellite, which he calls a "catastrophe for the West" (1957 review).
 
Haney also demonstrates a sustained interest in domestic (Republican) politics. After the McKinley assassination, he recounts reports of news over almost two weeks (9/7-9/19/1901). He reports considerable excitement concerning President Roosevelt's visit to CHS (11/12/1902), and celebrates the electoral gains of our "virile president" (11/9/1904). (Haney thinks less highly of President Wilson.) He records ratification of women's suffrage (1920 annual review), repeal of 18th Amendment, and passage of the 20th and 21st Amendments (1933 review). A tireless critic of F.D.R., Haney bemoans his election (11/8-9/1932) and reelections (1936 review, 11/6/1940, 11/8/1944), needling his "imprudent Supreme Court Packing idea" (1937 review) and fretting that, "A new American Gestapo set up in Washington is ready to hound any citizen who criticizes the Government" (1944 review). In fact, Haney's critiques of F.D.R. offer a window into conservative backlash against the New Deal, as excerpted in Selected Quotations (1935 review). In one of his final journals, he also notes the emergence of new racial coalitions associated with the Civil Rights era, writing, "The Negroes, once grateful to the G.O.P. for bringing about their liberation in the South, have turned their backs on the Republicans and cheerfully vote for politicians who given them untold millions in 'relief' of every sort" (1957 review).
 
Finally, war historians will discover countless accounts of U.S. military activity between the Spanish-American War and World War II. Haney celebrates the destruction of Pascual Cervera y Topete's naval fleet (7/4/1898), and notes with increasing alarm the "gathering war clouds in Europe" (7/30/1914, 1914 annual review). In his next annual review, he mourns Western civilization: "The year 1915 has probably been the most discreditable year since the dawn of civilization-discreditable to civilization and to all that such a state of existence implies. The Great European War, begun about August 1st of the previous year, ran a full twelve-month of slaughter during 1915 with no end in sight…The good name of Germany and of the Teutonic culture has been thrown to the winds. The future of the world's peace demands the defeat of the power that stands for militarism and for brute force" (1915 review). Haney marks Armistice Day as "one of the remarkable days of my life" (11/11/1918), but he soon finds himself profoundly disappointed with reconstruction efforts, as excerpted in Selected Quotations (1920 annual review). Haney's 1920s and 1930s entries offer a sobering account of the failures of League of Nations and the rise of Hitler and Mussolini. His volumes record milestones of World War II, from the attack on Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941) to the bombing of Hiroshima (8/6-7/1941). "It was epochal," writes Haney. "Papers & radio features the devastating atomic bomb. A new age has begun" (8/7/1941).

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."

Given the sheer volume of material contained in the Blumberg Papers--at least 127 volumes traversing almost 70 years of his professional career--it may be helpful to periodize these journals using landmarks from his professional career. This extended note suggests four main periods (1942-1957, 1957-1974, 1974-1994, and 1994-2011) that researchers may use to explore these remarkably rich collections.
 
The first 15 years of Blumberg diaries (1942-1957) traverse his education and travels to Suriname, Nigeria, much of Europe (including Italy, Germany, and France), and, notably, Israel, during the post-war period. While the Blumberg Papers include a school notebook from February 1942, his diaries begin in earnest in 1948, when he traveled by ship to the Cancer Institute in Portugal. In the early-1950s, Blumberg maintained diaries pertaining to a medical trip in Dutch Guiana (1950), his tenure at New York's Bellevue Hospital (1951-52), and medical trips to Venezuela and Aruba (1953), during which he worked to contain outbreaks of yellow fever, smallpox, and typhus. In that latter volume, Blumberg provides rich accounts of Venezuela under military dictatorship. "We passed a super-market which had been built by the Nelson Rockefeller-Venezuelan development group," writes Blumberg. "There are many vestiges of this enlightened business effect in Venezuela—although you hear much talk of it."
 
The volume entitled "Asia Minor S. Europe 1953" offers noteworthy insights into gay subculture in 1950s New York, postwar Europe, and Israel in its early years as a nation state. Aboard the S.S. Italia, Blumberg meets Phyllis Fitzgerald, a clothes model in New York's garment district, who introduces him to some new terminology, including "gay bar." (Reference Selected Quotations for an excerpt from that encounter.) Arriving in Europe, Blumberg furnishes numerous descriptions of Italy, including Naples, of which he writes: "It is far from beautiful and the back streets contain slums and small mean shops. The Italian peasantry and lower class city dweller is still quite depressed. We have poverty in our cities but the large lower class one sees in Southern Europe doesn't seem to occupy as an important portion of the population" (7/14/1953). From Italy, Blumberg travels to Israel, which had been established as a state just five years earlier. He furnishes detailed descriptions of the kibbutzim, the cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv, and the young Israelis he encounters in his travels. Notably, he discusses vestiges from the War of Independence (7/7/1953), the Gaza Strip (7/24/1953), Israeli politics (8/19/1953), and religious orthodoxy, of which he writes: "In Israel there is only orthodox religion—and that of a radical sort—or no (or even anti-) religion. There's no in between. There appears to be a spiritual barrenness in the country for which there's no answer. When people [move] here they see no need to keep up the conservative or reformed Judaism which did them so well at home & [make] them feel as one with their race" (8/5/1953).
 
Following his trip to "Asia Minor," Blumberg records substantial changes in his personal and professional life. He notes his wedding to Jean Lieblsman--after which they "ate leftover food & then went to a movie 'Hell or High Water'" (4/5/1954)--and several volumes that correspond with his enrollment at Oxford Balliol College ("Europe 1955," "Southeastern Europe," and "Spain 1956, Nigeria 1957," "West Africa"). From Oxford, Blumberg makes trips across Europe, including a "motor trip to [Josip Broz] Tito's birthplace" (4/12/1956). As with so many of Blumberg's journals, these volumes are remarkable for their entries as well as the ephemera he collects--postcards, photographs, and local newspaper clippings.
 
The next 17 years of diaries (1957-1974) follow Blumberg's early career, including his tenure at the National Institutes of Health (1957-64) and the Institute for Cancer Research (1964-67), as well as field trips across the globe to develop the hepatitis B vaccine. As such, this series of diaries will certainly interest researchers examining Blumberg's medical career. However, his diverse travels will captivate a host of other researchers. Blumberg documents trips to Alaska ("American Arctic 1958"), the Marshall Islands ("Central Pacific 1959"), Quebec ("Canada 1962"), Norway ("Account of trip to England and Scandinavia," 1963), and Brazil ("Trip to Brazil," 1963). A three-ring binder of assorted travel logs (1961-68) record lab work in Greece and Israel, and, notably, field work with indigenous peoples in Labrador (1962), Arizona (1967) and New Mexico (1967).
 
Beginning in 1967, Blumberg begins record-keeping using volumes entitled "General Notes," some of which lack dated entries and test the boundaries of journaling. For example, a volume for October 1967 - July 1968 includes no dated entries, but features extensive notes pertaining to cell studies, genetics data, epidemiology, and a wealth of ancillary materials related to the American Cancer Society. ("General Notes," September 1968 - February 1970 and February 1970 - November 1971" also lack dated entries.) Other volumes contain only sporadic entries, as with the four volumes dedicated to 1973. However, researchers who take the time to sift through those records will discover detailed notes about the Institute of Cancer Research. (Researchers interested specifically in his work at the Institute of Cancer Research would be well-advised to examine his "General Notes" from September 1973 - August 1974.)
 
In 1973, Blumberg begins a self-conscious account of his research--the first of two volumes entitled "Narrative History of Research." (The Blumberg Papers include another copy of the 1973 edition and a second volume from 1984.) Researchers interested in Blumberg's research, the field of genetics in the second half of the twentieth-century, and the history of science more broadly will be richly rewarded by these "narratives." Blumberg discusses his understanding of the scientific method, philosophy of science, methodological concerns (especially post-hoc reasoning), influences (e.g. Karl Popper and Jacob Bronowski), and professional networks, which include luminaries such as Harold Brown, Alexander Ogston, Tony Allison, Harvey Alter, Batsheba Boone, Alton Sutrick, Cyril Levine, Barbara Werner, Rongelap Atoll, Robert Conard, Tom London, William Summerskill, and Gary Getnick.
 
The next 20 years of diaries (1974-1994) recount some of Blumberg's most significant professional honors, most especially his receipt of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1976) and appointment as Master at Oxford University Balliol College (1989-1994). Those who have explored the Dobzhansky Papers will take note that Blumberg attended a Symposium on Evolution in his memory ("General Notes," May 1975 - September 1976). However, the next volume may overshadow it: "General Notes" (September 1976 - July 1978) documents Blumberg's receipt of the Nobel Prize, including a wealth of notes and ephemera related to travel, preparation, and formalities. Interspersed with those preparations are the kind of idiosyncratic record-keeping that Blumberg researchers will come to expect. For example, he records "Ages of Winners of Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine" (p.31), presumably to measure his own progress. Scholars from the Philadelphia metropolitan area may flag a photograph that shows Blumberg being awarded the Philadelphia Bowl in October 1976 by the infamous mayor Frank Rizzo (p.87), and researchers interested in the history of the American Philosophical Society may bookmark a program for a symposium that featured a presentation by George Wharton Pepper.
 
Blumberg maintained numerous notebooks related to his travels to Senegal, Hawaii, Japan, China, and the Soviet Union in the late-1970s. Scholars invested in modern China will take particular notice of the notebooks related to a trip to China on the eve of historic economic reforms (October 1977). In a black three-ring binder dedicated to the trip, Blumberg celebrates the "now-awakening city" of Tokyo, whose cultural advancement he measures through the prevalence of joggers--particularly women joggers (p.1, p.7). While in Tokyo, Blumberg meets with the mayor and compares the city favorably to New York, calling it cleaner and more "wholesome looking" (p.9, p.10). In Peking, he records "great changes," writing that "Maoist interest in developing a new China and obliterating to an extent the vestiges of the past" (p.18). A subsequent notebook ("General Notes," 9/28/1978-5/31/1979) notes travel to Moscow for a Hepatitis Conference, where Blumberg alludes to problems with anti-semitism. He writes that Garri Abelev finds himself in "some jeopardy as a consequence of his being Jewish and because of some transgression the nature of which I do not know" (p.47). Blumberg maintains at least four botanical field books related to these trips.
 
Notebooks from the early-1980s continue to document Blumberg's wide-ranging travels, and they also offer a glimpse at Blumberg's sense of humor. While those interested in his career may choose to focus on "General Notes" (2/28-11/17/1980), which includes a draft of his talk for a Nobel Lecture Series (3/22/1980) as well as notes about space exploration that pressage his later work for NASA (5/3/1980), Blumberg also interweaves notes and ephemera that give researchers a sense of his personality. For example, he encloses an invitation to a United Nations roundtable with the note: "Don't use the toaster (it's not ready to work in France)." In his next set of "General Notes" (11/12/1980-6/31/1981), Blumberg juxtaposes invitations to lectureships, awards, and notes from research councils with a photograph of himself running 10K under which he transcribes a quip from the boxer Saad Muhammad, "hey man, your pants are falling down" (10/11/1980). In a later trip to New York, he welcomes the opportunity to catch up on jokes, several of which he transcribes in his journal (1/19-11/24/1982).
 
These volumes--and others--provide a textured sense of Blumberg the scientist and Blumberg the human being. Blumberg often registers his religious (Jewish) upbringing through ephemera. For example, he encloses a program for "The Jew in American Today: Where are We?" at the Society Hill Synagogue in Philadelphia (2/4-2/6/1983). He also demonstrates a sustained interest in literature, particularly the writings of James Joyce. After a trip to Japan later that year, he includes a newspaper clipping for "Bloomsday: A Joycean Celebration" from the Philadelphia Inquirer (6/17/1983), and later records reading Finnegans Wake and Ulysses. Blumberg even attends a lecture on psychoanalysis and anthropology (though he dismisses the discussion as "pretty thin stuff, pretentious," 2/10/1984).
 
Between in 1984-1986, Blumberg transitions to larger notebooks that accommodate even more ephemera, including newspaper clippings on China's one-child policy (8/11/1984), Elie Wiesel's visit to the White House (4/20/1985), and reporting on the AIDS epidemic (10/7/1985). Blumberg maintained a pair of diaries related to a 1985 trip to Chile, which, notably, discuss the "problem of torture" under Pinochet and ethical challenges U.S. scientists face working with their counterparts in "non-democratic countries" (p.4, p.10, p.43). A notebook on a visit to India ("India Diary 1986") reveals Blumberg's thoughts on Hinduism, meeting with the prime minister (Rajiv Gandhi), and notes for a presentation about Gandhi's influence on Martin Luther King, Jr. (p.19, p.35-36, p.49-50). Other notebooks from 1986-88 document travels to Nepal, Japan, Taiwan, and Trinidad and Tobago, and even conference of Nobel Laureates in Paris (1/9/1988).
 
Perhaps most notably, Blumberg acknowledges his historic appointment as Master at Balliol College obliquely--through newspaper clippings--in these 1988 entries. One clipping, from the London Sundry Times notes that Blumberg is the first American to receive the honor (June 1988). It isn't until 1989 "General Notes" (1/1-8/9/1989) that he reflects upon the recognition, writing: "I looked at myself in the mirror, dark suite, striped Balliol tie, Master gown and thought what a strange series of event had brought me to this election. First American, first foreigner, first scientist, first Jew—I wish my father and mother could have known about this
 
how pleased they would have been" (6/3/1989). Blumberg's departure for the post appears bitter suite. He records a farewell party at the Fox Chase Cancer Center with an excerpt of his remarks: "[T]he world is a big playground for scientists and FCCC for 25 years has been my playground" (9/14/1989).
 
The early-1990s journals follow Blumberg's tenure at Balliol, marked by a series of notable personal events, including the death of his brother, wedding of his daughter, and birth of his first grandchild. Blumberg encloses a draft of his eulogy for his brother (6/30/1992) and an account of the funeral (7/1/1992). The next summer brings the wedding of his daughter, Anne Blumberg to Jonathan Dorfman (7/4/1993). After he completes his appointment at Balliol (10/1/1994), Blumberg celebrates the birth of Isabella Jean Dorfman, writing, "our first-borne—Anne—had our first Jewish grandchild" (4/2/1995).
 
The remaining notebooks (1994-2011) offer candid insights into Blumberg's late-career, including his directorship of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (1999-2002) and presidency of the American Philosophical Society (2005). Upon completing his appointment at Oxford, Blumberg appears to reach something of an impasse. On the occasion of his 72nd birthday, he writes: "feeling somewhat ill at ease about the direction my life should take. I'm so accustomed to being fully engaged and scheduled, being on vacation is a distraction…I should focus on the writing and make that my main goal at least for the present. That means I have to learn the discipline of writing, something I had nearly acquired when I was at LASBs. Enough philo. I'm delighted to have made it to 72 still intact and active" (7/28/1997). Blumberg would ascertain that direction in short order. In fact, included in that volume is a NASA Ames Research Center visitor's badge that anticipates the next chapter in his career.
 
Although Blumberg would not formally assume the role of director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute until May 1999, his journals suggest that conversations and preparations began much earlier. In "General Notes" (6/17/1998-3/10/1999), Blumberg attends an Astrobiology Roadmap Workshop (7/20-22/1998), where he writes (in third-person): "BSB spoke to the study of humans and their microorganisms" (7/22/1998). Shortly thereafter, he adds, "Malcolm Cohen called and told me that the scientists at NASA had taken up on this idea and want to have a conference about it early next year" (10/6/1998). Blumberg's exchanges with NASA leadership appear to have piqued his interest in space exploration, as evidenced in newspaper clippings that he collects in his journals (e.g. 3/19/1999). In his next volume of "General Notes" (3/11-10/13/1999), Blumberg records his "conditions for NASA employment" (p.3). Finally, he documents his appointment via newspaper clippings from the San Francisco Chronicle and New York Times dated 5/19/1999.
 
Blumberg's tenure at the Astrobiology Institute granted him new political and administrative responsibilities, which he documents thoroughly in "General Notes" and "Astrobiology" notebooks. Blumberg recounts a meeting with Newt Gingrich on 11/18/1999 with the gloss "Fascinating discussion. Far-ranging, visionary." In a subsequent volume of "General Notes" (5/11/2000-1/30/2001), researchers gain insights into the administrative work behind the Institute. "Spoke with Armstrong and Cerrel," writes Blumberg. "We arranged budget for ~ 20 million. 10 teams @ 1.5 x 106 plus 5 x 106 for supplementary funding an administration" (p153). Blumberg's commitment to the agency, and space exploration more broadly, endures well-past his tenure. In 2004, he travels to Puerto Rico to visit the radio telescope, and, on the 50th anniversary of the launching of Sputnik, he recollects, "On Oct 4, 1957. Jean Anne and BSB were crossing the Atlantic on the SS France and I saw Sput" (10/4/2007).
 
In the early-aughts, Blumberg returns to travel and private reflection. Notably, he records the September 11 terrorist attacks in an entry entitled "Day of Horror," writing, "I awake this morning to see on TV the horrible scenes of the bombing the World Trade Towers. I have written about it in my computer diary" (9/11/2001). (Unfortunately, it is unclear whether Blumberg printed that diary and included it with his papers.) He continues to attend Nobel conferences and symposia, including a 100th anniversary celebration of the Prize hosted by the White House on 11/27/2001. In a later journal, he notes that he attends a conference for Nobel Laureates that features speeches by King Abdullah II, Ted Koppel, Richard Holbrooke, and others (6/21/2006). Blumberg returns to Israel, Australia and China in 2002. In Israel, he notes the "terrible" condition of the West Bank (5/26/2002). In China, he recollects his 1977 trip as "most important (field) trip taken." Marveling at the "enormous changes" in the country, he writes that Shanghai is "only city I've visited that causes me to question solitary greatness of New York" (5/3/2002). New York remains a favorite stop for Blumberg
 
in fact, researchers interested in the arts will note that he meticulously records the opening of "The Gates" at Central Park (2/18/2005).
 
Alongside wide-ranging travels, later diaries offer unusually candid assessments of U.S. politics and media. Blumberg discusses immigration politics in late-2006, writing, "Bush admin has no interest in reality of data, they have been hopeless in responding to the problem [illegal immigration]. Punishment is their first response" (11/10/2006). After attending a talk on the media with Gwen Ifill and Tom Brokaw, he observes, "Republicans control press--board of directors compared to the Democrat's college dormitory" (4/28/2007).
 
The last five years of diaries may hold the greatest appeal to researchers exploring the institutional history of the American Philosophical Society. Although Blumberg doesn't appear to write directly about his election as president in 2005, the APS figures prominently in his final journals. He discusses a 2006 visit to the Google campus with APS members, where he marvels, "The place is bursting with intellectual energy. Masses of very young people…average age must be 25" (11/8/2006). Blumberg regularly records attendance of APS meetings, often enclosing programs. Perhaps most notably, he notes a meeting with former librarian Martin Levitt, during which Levitt conveyed the institution's interest in his diaries and its plans for a "NA DH Center," presumably the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research.

The Baruch S. Blumberg Papers feature one of the most remarkable--and expansive--collections of diaries available in the collections at the American Philosophical Society. Containing at least 127 volumes spanning nearly seven decades (1942-2011), these journals comprehensively document Baruch Blumberg's career in science, including: his undergraduate and graduate education, field work across the globe, development of the hepatitis B vaccine, receipt of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, appointment as Master at Oxford University Balliol College, directorship of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and presidency of the American Philosophical Society. Through his wide-ranging travels, Blumberg furnishes on-the-ground accounts of post-war Europe, the early years of Israeli statehood, China on the eve of economic reforms, Chile under Pinochet, and New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Alongside personal recollections, Blumberg uses his journals as veritable scrapbooks, packing volumes with newspaper clippings, programs, postcards, business cards, and various other forms of ephemera. Thus, while the Bloomberg diaries will attract researchers investigating his career, the field of genetics, and the history of science more broadly, these notebooks will captivate scholars interested in material culture, sexuality, religion, U.S. politics and foreign policy, media and technology, and much more.
 
Given the sheer volume of material contained in the Blumberg Papers--at least 127 volumes traversing almost 70 years of his professional career--it may be helpful to periodize these journals using landmarks from his professional career. This extended note suggests four main periods (1942-1957, 1957-1974, 1974-1994, and 1994-2011) that researchers may use to explore these remarkably rich collections.
 
The first 15 years of Blumberg diaries (1942-1957) traverse his education and travels to Suriname, Nigeria, much of Europe (including Italy, Germany, and France), and, notably, Israel, during the post-war period. While the Blumberg Papers include a school notebook from February 1942, his diaries begin in earnest in 1948, when he traveled by ship to the Cancer Institute in Portugal. In the early-1950s, Blumberg maintained diaries pertaining to a medical trip in Dutch Guiana (1950), his tenure at New York's Bellevue Hospital (1951-52), and medical trips to Venezuela and Aruba (1953), during which he worked to contain outbreaks of yellow fever, smallpox, and typhus. In that latter volume, Blumberg provides rich accounts of Venezuela under military dictatorship. "We passed a super-market which had been built by the Nelson Rockefeller-Venezuelan development group," writes Blumberg. "There are many vestiges of this enlightened business effect in Venezuela—although you hear much talk of it."
 
The volume entitled "Asia Minor S. Europe 1953" offers noteworthy insights into gay subculture in 1950s New York, postwar Europe, and Israel in its early years as a nation state. Aboard the S.S. Italia, Blumberg meets Phyllis Fitzgerald, a clothes model in New York's garment district, who introduces him to some new terminology, including "gay bar." (Reference Selected Quotations for an excerpt from that encounter.) Arriving in Europe, Blumberg furnishes numerous descriptions of Italy, including Naples, of which he writes: "It is far from beautiful and the back streets contain slums and small mean shops. The Italian peasantry and lower class city dweller is still quite depressed. We have poverty in our cities but the large lower class one sees in Southern Europe doesn't seem to occupy as an important portion of the population" (7/14/1953). From Italy, Blumberg travels to Israel, which had been established as a state just five years earlier. He furnishes detailed descriptions of the kibbutzim, the cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv, and the young Israelis he encounters in his travels. Notably, he discusses vestiges from the War of Independence (7/7/1953), the Gaza Strip (7/24/1953), Israeli politics (8/19/1953), and religious orthodoxy, of which he writes: "In Israel there is only orthodox religion—and that of a radical sort—or no (or even anti-) religion. There's no in between. There appears to be a spiritual barrenness in the country for which there's no answer. When people [move] here they see no need to keep up the conservative or reformed Judaism which did them so well at home & [make] them feel as one with their race" (8/5/1953).
 
Following his trip to "Asia Minor," Blumberg records substantial changes in his personal and professional life. He notes his wedding to Jean Lieblsman--after which they "ate leftover food & then went to a movie 'Hell or High Water'" (4/5/1954)--and several volumes that correspond with his enrollment at Oxford Balliol College ("Europe 1955," "Southeastern Europe," and "Spain 1956, Nigeria 1957," "West Africa"). From Oxford, Blumberg makes trips across Europe, including a "motor trip to [Josip Broz] Tito's birthplace" (4/12/1956). As with so many of Blumberg's journals, these volumes are remarkable for their entries as well as the ephemera he collects--postcards, photographs, and local newspaper clippings.
 
The next 17 years of diaries (1957-1974) follow Blumberg's early career, including his tenure at the National Institutes of Health (1957-64) and the Institute for Cancer Research (1964-67), as well as field trips across the globe to develop the hepatitis B vaccine. As such, this series of diaries will certainly interest researchers examining Blumberg's medical career. However, his diverse travels will captivate a host of other researchers. Blumberg documents trips to Alaska ("American Arctic 1958"), the Marshall Islands ("Central Pacific 1959"), Quebec ("Canada 1962"), Norway ("Account of trip to England and Scandinavia," 1963), and Brazil ("Trip to Brazil," 1963). A three-ring binder of assorted travel logs (1961-68) record lab work in Greece and Israel, and, notably, field work with indigenous peoples in Labrador (1962), Arizona (1967) and New Mexico (1967).
 
Beginning in 1967, Blumberg begins record-keeping using volumes entitled "General Notes," some of which lack dated entries and test the boundaries of journaling. For example, a volume for October 1967 - July 1968 includes no dated entries, but features extensive notes pertaining to cell studies, genetics data, epidemiology, and a wealth of ancillary materials related to the American Cancer Society. ("General Notes," September 1968 - February 1970 and February 1970 - November 1971" also lack dated entries.) Other volumes contain only sporadic entries, as with the four volumes dedicated to 1973. However, researchers who take the time to sift through those records will discover detailed notes about the Institute of Cancer Research. (Researchers interested specifically in his work at the Institute of Cancer Research would be well-advised to examine his "General Notes" from September 1973 - August 1974.)
 
In 1973, Blumberg begins a self-conscious account of his research--the first of two volumes entitled "Narrative History of Research." (The Blumberg Papers include another copy of the 1973 edition and a second volume from 1984.) Researchers interested in Blumberg's research, the field of genetics in the second half of the twentieth-century, and the history of science more broadly will be richly rewarded by these "narratives." Blumberg discusses his understanding of the scientific method, philosophy of science, methodological concerns (especially post-hoc reasoning), influences (e.g. Karl Popper and Jacob Bronowski), and professional networks, which include luminaries such as Harold Brown, Alexander Ogston, Tony Allison, Harvey Alter, Batsheba Boone, Alton Sutrick, Cyril Levine, Barbara Werner, Rongelap Atoll, Robert Conard, Tom London, William Summerskill, and Gary Getnick.
 
The next 20 years of diaries (1974-1994) recount some of Blumberg's most significant professional honors, most especially his receipt of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1976) and appointment as Master at Oxford University Balliol College (1989-1994). Those who have explored the Dobzhansky Papers will take note that Blumberg attended a Symposium on Evolution in his memory ("General Notes," May 1975 - September 1976). However, the next volume may overshadow it: "General Notes" (September 1976 - July 1978) documents Blumberg's receipt of the Nobel Prize, including a wealth of notes and ephemera related to travel, preparation, and formalities. Interspersed with those preparations are the kind of idiosyncratic record-keeping that Blumberg researchers will come to expect. For example, he records "Ages of Winners of Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine" (p.31), presumably to measure his own progress. Scholars from the Philadelphia metropolitan area may flag a photograph that shows Blumberg being awarded the Philadelphia Bowl in October 1976 by the infamous mayor Frank Rizzo (p.87), and researchers interested in the history of the American Philosophical Society may bookmark a program for a symposium that featured a presentation by George Wharton Pepper.
 
Blumberg maintained numerous notebooks related to his travels to Senegal, Hawaii, Japan, China, and the Soviet Union in the late-1970s. Scholars invested in modern China will take particular notice of the notebooks related to a trip to China on the eve of historic economic reforms (October 1977). In a black three-ring binder dedicated to the trip, Blumberg celebrates the "now-awakening city" of Tokyo, whose cultural advancement he measures through the prevalence of joggers--particularly women joggers (p.1, p.7). While in Tokyo, Blumberg meets with the mayor and compares the city favorably to New York, calling it cleaner and more "wholesome looking" (p.9, p.10). In Peking, he records "great changes," writing that "Maoist interest in developing a new China and obliterating to an extent the vestiges of the past" (p.18). A subsequent notebook ("General Notes," 9/28/1978-5/31/1979) notes travel to Moscow for a Hepatitis Conference, where Blumberg alludes to problems with anti-semitism. He writes that Garri Abelev finds himself in "some jeopardy as a consequence of his being Jewish and because of some transgression the nature of which I do not know" (p.47). Blumberg maintains at least four botanical field books related to these trips.
 
Notebooks from the early-1980s continue to document Blumberg's wide-ranging travels, and they also offer a glimpse at Blumberg's sense of humor. While those interested in his career may choose to focus on "General Notes" (2/28-11/17/1980), which includes a draft of his talk for a Nobel Lecture Series (3/22/1980) as well as notes about space exploration that pressage his later work for NASA (5/3/1980), Blumberg also interweaves notes and ephemera that give researchers a sense of his personality. For example, he encloses an invitation to a United Nations roundtable with the note: "Don't use the toaster (it's not ready to work in France)." In his next set of "General Notes" (11/12/1980-6/31/1981), Blumberg juxtaposes invitations to lectureships, awards, and notes from research councils with a photograph of himself running 10K under which he transcribes a quip from the boxer Saad Muhammad, "hey man, your pants are falling down" (10/11/1980). In a later trip to New York, he welcomes the opportunity to catch up on jokes, several of which he transcribes in his journal (1/19-11/24/1982).
 
These volumes--and others--provide a textured sense of Blumberg the scientist and Blumberg the human being. Blumberg often registers his religious (Jewish) upbringing through ephemera. For example, he encloses a program for "The Jew in American Today: Where are We?" at the Society Hill Synagogue in Philadelphia (2/4-2/6/1983). He also demonstrates a sustained interest in literature, particularly the writings of James Joyce. After a trip to Japan later that year, he includes a newspaper clipping for "Bloomsday: A Joycean Celebration" from the Philadelphia Inquirer (6/17/1983), and later records reading Finnegans Wake and Ulysses. Blumberg even attends a lecture on psychoanalysis and anthropology (though he dismisses the discussion as "pretty thin stuff, pretentious," 2/10/1984).
 
Between in 1984-1986, Blumberg transitions to larger notebooks that accommodate even more ephemera, including newspaper clippings on China's one-child policy (8/11/1984), Elie Wiesel's visit to the White House (4/20/1985), and reporting on the AIDS epidemic (10/7/1985). Blumberg maintained a pair of diaries related to a 1985 trip to Chile, which, notably, discuss the "problem of torture" under Pinochet and ethical challenges U.S. scientists face working with their counterparts in "non-democratic countries" (p.4, p.10, p.43). A notebook on a visit to India ("India Diary 1986") reveals Blumberg's thoughts on Hinduism, meeting with the prime minister (Rajiv Gandhi), and notes for a presentation about Gandhi's influence on Martin Luther King, Jr. (p.19, p.35-36, p.49-50). Other notebooks from 1986-88 document travels to Nepal, Japan, Taiwan, and Trinidad and Tobago, and even conference of Nobel Laureates in Paris (1/9/1988).
 
Perhaps most notably, Blumberg acknowledges his historic appointment as Master at Balliol College obliquely--through newspaper clippings--in these 1988 entries. One clipping, from the London Sundry Times notes that Blumberg is the first American to receive the honor (June 1988). It isn't until 1989 "General Notes" (1/1-8/9/1989) that he reflects upon the recognition, writing: "I looked at myself in the mirror, dark suite, striped Balliol tie, Master gown and thought what a strange series of event had brought me to this election. First American, first foreigner, first scientist, first Jew—I wish my father and mother could have known about this
 
how pleased they would have been" (6/3/1989). Blumberg's departure for the post appears bitter suite. He records a farewell party at the Fox Chase Cancer Center with an excerpt of his remarks: "[T]he world is a big playground for scientists and FCCC for 25 years has been my playground" (9/14/1989).
 
The early-1990s journals follow Blumberg's tenure at Balliol, marked by a series of notable personal events, including the death of his brother, wedding of his daughter, and birth of his first grandchild. Blumberg encloses a draft of his eulogy for his brother (6/30/1992) and an account of the funeral (7/1/1992). The next summer brings the wedding of his daughter, Anne Blumberg to Jonathan Dorfman (7/4/1993). After he completes his appointment at Balliol (10/1/1994), Blumberg celebrates the birth of Isabella Jean Dorfman, writing, "our first-borne—Anne—had our first Jewish grandchild" (4/2/1995).
 
The remaining notebooks (1994-2011) offer candid insights into Blumberg's late-career, including his directorship of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (1999-2002) and presidency of the American Philosophical Society (2005). Upon completing his appointment at Oxford, Blumberg appears to reach something of an impasse. On the occasion of his 72nd birthday, he writes: "feeling somewhat ill at ease about the direction my life should take. I'm so accustomed to being fully engaged and scheduled, being on vacation is a distraction…I should focus on the writing and make that my main goal at least for the present. That means I have to learn the discipline of writing, something I had nearly acquired when I was at LASBs. Enough philo. I'm delighted to have made it to 72 still intact and active" (7/28/1997). Blumberg would ascertain that direction in short order. In fact, included in that volume is a NASA Ames Research Center visitor's badge that anticipates the next chapter in his career.
 
Although Blumberg would not formally assume the role of director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute until May 1999, his journals suggest that conversations and preparations began much earlier. In "General Notes" (6/17/1998-3/10/1999), Blumberg attends an Astrobiology Roadmap Workshop (7/20-22/1998), where he writes (in third-person): "BSB spoke to the study of humans and their microorganisms" (7/22/1998). Shortly thereafter, he adds, "Malcolm Cohen called and told me that the scientists at NASA had taken up on this idea and want to have a conference about it early next year" (10/6/1998). Blumberg's exchanges with NASA leadership appear to have piqued his interest in space exploration, as evidenced in newspaper clippings that he collects in his journals (e.g. 3/19/1999). In his next volume of "General Notes" (3/11-10/13/1999), Blumberg records his "conditions for NASA employment" (p.3). Finally, he documents his appointment via newspaper clippings from the San Francisco Chronicle and New York Times dated 5/19/1999.
 
Blumberg's tenure at the Astrobiology Institute granted him new political and administrative responsibilities, which he documents thoroughly in "General Notes" and "Astrobiology" notebooks. Blumberg recounts a meeting with Newt Gingrich on 11/18/1999 with the gloss "Fascinating discussion. Far-ranging, visionary." In a subsequent volume of "General Notes" (5/11/2000-1/30/2001), researchers gain insights into the administrative work behind the Institute. "Spoke with Armstrong and Cerrel," writes Blumberg. "We arranged budget for ~ 20 million. 10 teams @ 1.5 x 106 plus 5 x 106 for supplementary funding an administration" (p153). Blumberg's commitment to the agency, and space exploration more broadly, endures well-past his tenure. In 2004, he travels to Puerto Rico to visit the radio telescope, and, on the 50th anniversary of the launching of Sputnik, he recollects, "On Oct 4, 1957. Jean Anne and BSB were crossing the Atlantic on the SS France and I saw Sput" (10/4/2007).
 
In the early-aughts, Blumberg returns to travel and private reflection. Notably, he records the September 11 terrorist attacks in an entry entitled "Day of Horror," writing, "I awake this morning to see on TV the horrible scenes of the bombing the World Trade Towers. I have written about it in my computer diary" (9/11/2001). (Unfortunately, it is unclear whether Blumberg printed that diary and included it with his papers.) He continues to attend Nobel conferences and symposia, including a 100th anniversary celebration of the Prize hosted by the White House on 11/27/2001. In a later journal, he notes that he attends a conference for Nobel Laureates that features speeches by King Abdullah II, Ted Koppel, Richard Holbrooke, and others (6/21/2006). Blumberg returns to Israel, Australia and China in 2002. In Israel, he notes the "terrible" condition of the West Bank (5/26/2002). In China, he recollects his 1977 trip as "most important (field) trip taken." Marveling at the "enormous changes" in the country, he writes that Shanghai is "only city I've visited that causes me to question solitary greatness of New York" (5/3/2002). New York remains a favorite stop for Blumberg
 
in fact, researchers interested in the arts will note that he meticulously records the opening of "The Gates" at Central Park (2/18/2005).
 
Alongside wide-ranging travels, later diaries offer unusually candid assessments of U.S. politics and media. Blumberg discusses immigration politics in late-2006, writing, "Bush admin has no interest in reality of data, they have been hopeless in responding to the problem [illegal immigration]. Punishment is their first response" (11/10/2006). After attending a talk on the media with Gwen Ifill and Tom Brokaw, he observes, "Republicans control press--board of directors compared to the Democrat's college dormitory" (4/28/2007).
 
The last five years of diaries may hold the greatest appeal to researchers exploring the institutional history of the American Philosophical Society. Although Blumberg doesn't appear to write directly about his election as president in 2005, the APS figures prominently in his final journals. He discusses a 2006 visit to the Google campus with APS members, where he marvels, "The place is bursting with intellectual energy. Masses of very young people…average age must be 25" (11/8/2006). Blumberg regularly records attendance of APS meetings, often enclosing programs. Perhaps most notably, he notes a meeting with former librarian Martin Levitt, during which Levitt conveyed the institution's interest in his diaries and its plans for a "NA DH Center," presumably the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research.

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.