Manuscripts

Mary Olive Karr Gilkey diary

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Description: The diary begins in October 1877 when Mary, at the age of 12, is in Tumwater, Washington on her way to Olympia; it is here that she decides that she is going to start keeping a diary. The diary then skips to July 1884 when Mary is a teacher in Scappoose, Oregon. She discusses her students, her feelings for a man she refers to as "C.J.," and her continuing effort to be a good Christian woman. In October she moves back to Forest Grove, Oregon to be with her family, the Karrs and Walkers. While there, she spends her time attending prayer meetings and catching up with her family. She also takes a trip to Portland where she attends a reception for a missionary friend; she briefly talks of becoming a missionary herself, but decides to return to school instead. The last entry is August 9, 1885, and Mary is back at home after deciding to leave school
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1877-1885.
Call number: mssHM 64595

Mary Haskin Parker Richards diary

Manuscripts

Typescript of a diary kept by Mary Haskin Parker Richards while her husband Samuel Richards was on his mission to Great Britain from 1846-1848. The diary begins on July 22, 1846 (the first four pages are missing), while Mary was traveling with Samuel's parents in a covered wagon through Iowa. Despite the hardships of travel and living much of the time in tents, Mary writes of enjoying her sewing, cooking, and caring for ill family members. She writes of attending a council between the Twelve and "the Natives," which included "10 Indians [and] two Chiefs" in December 1846. In February 1847 Mary ventured across the frozen Missouri River and stayed in an Indian village. She recounts seeing Mormons and Indians living side-by-side although not always peacefully. She happily recounts moving into a house in April 1847 for the first time since leaving Nauvoo in May 1846. "I rejoiced to think that after...living in a tent, and wandering from house to house to keep from perishing with the Cold, [and] suffering...every inconvenience...I had once more a place I could call my home," she wrote on April 29. Much of the diary is taken up with notes on Mary's domestic activities and her attendance of lectures and apparently fiery sermons by Mormon leaders. The final entry was made on May 14, 1848. There is a gap in the diary from August to November 1846.

mssHM 27970

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Mary J. Colson diary of a whaling voyage in South American waters

Manuscripts

Diary of Mary J. Colson, a ship captain's wife, chronicling a whaling voyage in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Argentina and Uruguay from October 1877 to December 1880. Colson provides details on the weather, food, and other ships encountered, noting numerous social visits with other ship captains and sometimes their wives. She describes frequent whaling activities, noting whales sighted, chased, and killed, and the boiling of whales aboard ship with the amount of oil extracted often mentioned. Colson's entry of January 13, 1878, details the killing of a right whale that happened near the ship. She refers to several accidents, mishaps, and deaths during the voyage, and to an outbreak of scurvy. There are a few trips onshore--to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands and to Montevideo, Uruguay--but none are described in detail. Also mentioned are reports and letters from home received from other ships, and notable events such as birthdays and holidays. The journal ends on December 18, 1880. At the end of the volume is a two-page account of whales killed and amounts of oil extracted, dating from December 9, 1877 to January 26, 1881, a note about a steamship dated April 18, 1881, and notes and calculations. The journal is written in pencil and is in a bound volume with numerous blank pages; the back inside cover has four small ink prints depicting sperm whales. Also present are two cabinet card portraits: one presumably of Mary J. Colson dated October 1, 1879 and one presumably of Herbert D. and Mary J. Colson, undated. Both photographs were taken at Chute & Brooks studio, Montevideo, Uruguay. In addition, there is a souvenir album of illustrated scenes of Montevideo titled "Album de Montevideo publicado por la Libreria Alemana Buenos Aires" (9 x 13 cm) with captions in English, Spanish, French, and German. An annotated transcript of the diary is available (mssHM 26611 (FAC)), which was created by Joan Druett, author of Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820-1920 (2001), in 1991.

mssHM 26611

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Mary Richardson travel diaries

Manuscripts

Collection of four diaries kept by Mary Richardson, a cousin of English critic and artist John Ruskin, documenting travel primarily in France and Italy, between 1833 and 1841, with the Ruskin family, including John Ruskin. Richardson often describes the sites they visited, her perceptions, and the daily activities of the family during their tours of Europe. The volumes consist of a diary of travel chiefly in Italy, from May-September 1833 (HM 41910); a diary of travel chiefly in France from June 4-August 25, 1835 (HM 41911); a diary of travel in Rome and Naples from December 22, 1840, to March 11, 1841 (HM 41912); and a diary of travel in Italy from March 14-June 23, 1841 (HM 41913). The collection also contains one additional volume: a diary and appointment book of an unidentified individual, presumably a young man, in London, England, in 1849 (HM 41914).

mssHM 41910-41914

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Mary Ann Storrs McCarty diary of an overland journey from Omaha to Carson City

Manuscripts

Portion of a diary kept by Mary Ann Storrs McCarty as she traveled overland from Nebraska to Nevada. The diary opens with the McCartys' departure from Omaha on May 6, traveling with a company that would eventually come under the leadership of J. Marvin. They forded the Loup Fork at Council Bluffs, and Mary Ann describes the difficulty of getting wagons and supplies over the various bluffs and hills they had to climb. While in Nebraska on May 14, Mary Ann observed "a very singular phenomenon" above the evening horizon, which first had the shape of a "rod" before taking on a "snaky appearance, [which] appeared to crawl up from the horizon...[and] lasted about half an hour." By the end of May they had reached Chimney Rock, and shortly after had the first of two broken wagons that had to be left behind, both ultimately replaced by "a Mormon...who was going after emigrants." Mary Ann writes of Pawnee Indians visiting the wagon camp, and although they were peaceful the emigrants were "all frightened" about their presence. In early June the party arrived at Fort Laramie and camped near La Bonte Creek and Deer Creek, usually close to outpost stations of soldiers. On June 12 the McCartys' were left behind when their wagon broke, and when P.V. went to look for the rest of the party Mary Ann stayed behind. It was dark and she wrote that "[there is] no person near me for miles...all around is hills and rocks. Where will the end be?" (June 12). Two days later they had rejoined the wagon train and camped near Devil's Gate, where Mary Ann described the scenery as "strangely, wildly beautiful." While camped near the Sweetwater River on June 18, Mary Ann wrote of her exasperation with her traveling companions, stating that "I am so very tired of the company, they are all so dreadfully profane...My heart years for quietude and the society of Christians." Mary Ann got her wish to be separated from the party when the McCartys' wagon was irreparably broken near the Sweetwater Station and they were left behind to find a new one. After being aided to the Green River Crossing, the McCartys joined a new emigrant train from Missouri. They passed through Echo Canyon and came within sight of Salt Lake City on July 1. Mary Ann described with some admiration the homes, agriculture, and irrigation systems of the Mormon homesteads she could see. She often walked on alone without the rest of the company, occasionally causing a panic when they thought she had been lost. By July 4 they reached Camp Floyd, and in mid-July crossed 23 miles of desert to the Nevada border. After passing the Diamond Station the McCartys left the wagon train to take a cut-off, which turned out to be a "terrible road." In Nevada they traveled through Clifton, along the Carson River, Fort Churchill, and Dayton before arriving in Carson City on August 12. Mary Ann's diary ends with an account of a fire that broke out shortly after their arrival. Also includes a typed transcript of the diary made by Mary Louise Warren, a letter to Mary Ann from Helen L. Taylor (1899), and photographs of P.V. McCarty and an unidentified daughter.

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Mary Stuart Bailey journal

Manuscripts

HM 2018 is the original journal of thirty handwritten pages, dated April 13, 1852 through November 8, 1852. Also included is a negative photostat of the 1850 Federal Census of Lucas County, Ohio, showing entries for Mary Stuart Bailey, her husband Dr. Frederick E. Bailey, and Harriet Bailey, as well as four typewritten pages showing burial plots in Association Cemetery (Sylvania, Ohio), wherein rests Harriet Bailey. HM 2019 is a typescript of an extract of the journal, through October 31. Also included here are two typewritten pages by Mrs. W.W. Hicks relating further information about the Baileys, and a map of the Salt Lake Trail. The journal itself is Mary Bailey's account of her journey. She stops in St. Louis, Missouri to see friends, and gives shelter to some Indians in "destitute condition." After a hard journey, they reach California in October, and Bailey writes in her final entry, "I do not think we shall be as well off as at home."

mssHM 2018-2019

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Mary Arbeely diary

Manuscripts

Mary Arbeely wrote this diary during the final months of the family's Beirut trip (1908, November 17-1909, September 30).

mssHM 83424

Mary Olive Karr Gilkey diary

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Mary Haskin Parker Richards diary

Mary J. Colson diary of a whaling voyage in South American waters

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Mary Stuart Bailey journal

Mary Arbeely diary