My great-grandmother’s maiden name was Beeckman – not the more fashionable Beekman,[1] as in Beekman Place – a name which enjoyed something of a vogue around the turn of the last century, in the person of my..

Continue reading →

As it happened, Mrs. Gray [1] was too late to reach her brother’s deathbed:

Philadelphia, Sunday, 4 December 1864: One week to-day since our precious brother[2] died – died to earth with..

Continue reading →

Many of the vernacular photos I’ve bought in the last few months have no information about the sitter – sometimes the subject is identified by a nickname, such as “Stinky.” I recently bought an intriguing image of a man (apparently) dancing,..

Continue reading →

The last months of 1864 marked the beginning of the end of the Civil War, as well as the final illness of Mrs. Gray’s [1] beloved brother John Shober. An effort at economy – by giving up a..Continue reading →

I recently bought a striking pair of photographs by White Studio of New York. The first was sold as showing an attractive couple dancing, but when I received it I could see that one partner was identified: Mrs. E. B...

Continue reading →

Mrs. Gray’s diary [1] continues, with the results of the 1864 presidential election:

61 Bowdoin Street, Boston, Wednesday, 9 November 1864: The great election-day passed off without..

Continue reading →

Americans tend to reject the notion of operating within a “social class” structure, although it is sometimes easier to see ourselves as “better than” one person as opposed to..

Continue reading →

By the fall of 1864, hints of the ultimate outcome of the American Civil War could be discerned. For Regina Shober Gray, [1] the period was also marked by worry about her family members’..Continue reading →

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

After a summer holiday in Manchester, the Grays [1] were back in Boston. The engagement of a family friend reminded..Continue reading →

Certain diaries, and their authors, become short-hand for a time and place: Samuel Pepys’s diary of seventeenth-century London, for example, or Anne Frank’s diary..

Continue reading →