[Author’s note: This series, on Mrs. Gray’s reading habits, began here.]

This selection of Regina Shober Gray’s [1] reading includes current novels ( John Brent and The Earl’s Heirs) as..Continue reading →

[Author’s note: This series, on Mrs. Gray’s reading habits, began here.]

Letters as well as books constituted Regina Shober Gray’s [1] reading. First, though, a note on the configuration of..Continue reading →

[Author’s note: This series, on Mrs. Gray’s reading habits, began here.]

Of particular interest in these entries is Regina Shober Gray’s [1] depiction of being photographed in September..Continue reading →

I wear several hats at NEHGS. In addition to editing Vita Brevis, I am the Society’s Editor-in-Chief, with advisory roles in the Publications, Library, and Website divisions; I write and edit books, including a..

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[ Author's note: This series, on Mrs. Gray's reading habits, began here.]

By the winter of 1861, an American civil war loomed. Regina Shober Gray[1] – a native of Pennsylvania with Southern..

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[Author's note: This series, on Mrs. Gray’s reading habits, began here.]

These entries, from 1860–61, focus less on Regina Shober Gray’s [1] reading than on the successive deaths from..Continue reading →

[Author's note: This blog post originally appeared in Vita Brevis on 19 August 2015.]

My grandfather died almost 25 years ago, and sometime before that he gave me a box of “family papers.” The box itself is rather striking: a metal strong box, easily portable, with my..

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[Author’s note: This series, on Mrs. Gray’s reading habits, began here.]

Regina Shober Gray’s [1] diary shows her as part of a wide network of families: in the following entries, from summer..Continue reading →

[Author’s note: This series, on Mrs. Gray’s reading habits, began here.]

In May 1860, Regina Shober Gray [1] was visiting her family in Philadelphia.

245 South Eighteenth Street, Wednesday,..

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Regina Shober Gray [1] was an energetic and well-educated woman of her time. Her diary abounds with visits to the theater and to commercial art galleries (the precursors of museums), so I..Continue reading →