[WOMEN] [TEXTILES] [DIARY] Young Woman's Day-Book; Full Year - Written Daily

Leyden/Talcotville, New York: Excelsior Diary, 1887. 244 pages. 15 x 9 cm. This daily dairy is not signed but unlike many diaries we come across, this diary is recorded every day - from January 1st until December 31st, 1887. Along the way, we become familiar with this tight knit community in upstate New York at the turn of the century. Our author, who turned 17 in January, lives with her parents on a family farm. On a typical day when she is not working at a local shop as a seamstress, she wakes then cleans the milking pails, has breakfast then begins her morning chores of sweeping, dusting, cleaning, washing and tidying up the house. In the afternoon she spends her time sewing and then helps her mother in the kitchen cooking and baking. We find her helping with the "white wash" and the "blue wash", blackening the stove, baking bread and cookies, putting up peaches, making pickles, washing windows and doors, and tacking down rugs. Her outside chores in the summer months consist of hoeing, picking beans, cucumbers, and corn, digging potatoes, raking and picking berries, and harvesting hops. The following is a sampling of some of her days:
Tuesday, June 28, 1887: Pleasant and very warm. Up at five. Milked then washed the pails and sprinkled the clothes. Then got ready to go a berrying, went to Mrs. L but had to wait for her to get ready. I only picked about 1 1/2 quarts but I was tired. Rinsed most of the clothes after I got home in the evening. Thursday, July 21, 1887: Cloudy and quite cool all day. I was dressed at twenty min to five was up before an awful fire in the village. I wanted to go but Ma would not let me. I sewed all day to Mrs. Farr. I made a shirt and a pair of drawers. A great many people went up to see the fire. The engine and hose company came from Boonville, some were there that I know. Thursday, September 9, 1887: Cloudy in the morning, pleasant rest of the day. Up half past five. Milked, eat breakfast and went to the hop yards. Mr. Plunkett said no pay for us today but he was in fun. We worked around and commenced in the last row tonight. We came home by the village. I paid Sissy then got cloth enough to cover three more chairs. We tacked the covering on one tonight. Tuesday, December 20, 1887: Snowed some today, pleasant in the evening. Up at seven, went to the shop. I commenced on the (Masonic) Aprons. I finished up ten at a time. I finished thirty seven of them. Mrs. Burr the other thirteen, then I went to work on May's dress, basted the waist and part of the pocket. Went to choir practice, saw as talked with Lee quite a little while!
We can see the rhythm of a small but lively town with the various activities that our author encounters - the circus coming to town, a tin peddler stopping by, deaths and funerals, carriage rides, picnics at Sugar Hill Falls, and even a day train trip to Canada. At the end of the year, our author takes stock of her year, realizing a lot has changed. She seems to have a love interest, Lee, who stops by her work, takes her on buggy rides, and sits with her family at church on Sundays. Our author also keeps track of her expenditures at the end of the day book, setting down the amount she was paid and the amount she spent on various items. A truly poignant, intimate look at the daily life of a young Northeast American woman at the end of the 19th century. Item #4098

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