Fiske, Jane Briggs Smith, 1834-1925. Papers, 1806-1923.
Title:
Papers, 1806-1923.
The bulk of this collection is comprised of thirty-four diaries of Jane Briggs (Smith) Fiske for the years 1871 through 1910 (1872, 1878, 1882, 1884, 1892, 1908 lacking). The remainder of the collection contains forty-five letters from Jane to Fuller for the period 1865 to 1871; seventeen letters from Fuller to various family members for the period 1856 to 1864; forty-nine letters from William to Jane for the period 1902 to 1907; and miscellaneous correspondence and papers. The diary for 1871, the year before her marriage, is written while Jane was in Washington, D.C. The daily entries contain a report of the weather, followed by a record of her activities, including time spent at the Capitol listening to the Senate or Supreme Court; visits made and received; letters written and received; going to the Barracks school; going to Sunday School and church; playing whist; sewing; going to concerts or the theater; visiting the Congressional greenhouse; going to class; giving lessons; reading; and knitting. Jane returns to Hanson, Mass. for a visit in April, and, on 22 May, makes the notation, "... In the evening went ... to hear Fred Douglass." The remaining diaries, written after her marriage, again begin with a report of the weather (though in later years, just a chronicle of morning and afternoon temperatures). The entries for the diaries (extensive at first, but brief, and barely legible, towards the later years) contain information regarding the daily activities of a farm wife, including chores (e.g., cooking baking, mending, darning, sewing, churning, washing, drying, ironing, cleaning, scrubbing); visits made and received; letters written and received; and mentions of births, birthdays, marriages, illnesses, and deaths. There are also references to helping her husband make out bills and helping him with his school reports; selling meat, butter, and eggs; and killing turkeys, chickens, pigs, and cows. The forty-five letters from Jane to Fuller for the period 25 June 1865 to 23 January 1871, written during her tenure in the South, contain comments regarding her students, abolition, the enfranchisement of the freedmen, and academic and pedagogical discussions. Her letter express her philosophies on several subjects and chronicle her ever changing moods ("... my temperament is decidedly mercurial. ..."--22 January 1868). The majority of the seventeen letters from Fuller for the period 1 July 1856 to 22 July 1864 were written during his service in the Civil War and are addressed to his sister, Susan Caroline Fiske (1834-1865). There are two letters addressed to his brother William written prior to his service. The forty-nine letters from William to his mother for the period 1902 to 1907 contain comments regarding his work and travels. The remaining materials are a collection of miscellaneous items such as correspondence; a sketch; a postcard from Butte, Montana; receipts; bills; a list of "volunteer civilian nurses" for the Office of Chief Med. Officer, Fredericksburgh, Va., dated 24 May 1864; a quit-claim deed; railroad passes for the year 1902; a hotel bill; and a Western Union telegram.
ArchivalResource:
3 boxes.
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/207134365 View
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