Diaries, 1767-1814.

ArchivalResource

Peabody, Stephen, 1741-1819. Diaries, 1767-1814.

Diaries, 1767-1814.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/207163186

This collection consists of eleven diaries. One is a photocopy of the diary for the year 1767 (the original diary is at the Massachusetts Historical Society). The others range from 1777 to 1814, with an 1809 line-a-day diary interleaved in Curtis's Pocket Almanack and Register of New Hampshire, and a book of accounts listing Peabody's boarders. The 1767 diary records numerous aspects of Peabody's tempestuous student life. Included are accounts of his leadership and involvement in a student strike called against one of the tutors, Peabody's subsequent resignation, followed by controversy concerning his reinstatement in the college. The remaining diaries provide valuable information on the people and events in and around Atkinson, N.H. He made routine entries on the weather, local births, deaths, and marriages, in addition to recounting his sermon preparations, visits made and visitors received and his other ministerial activities. To supplement the minister's meager salary, Peabody also ran a farm. Records of his farm labors are contained in his diaries. Peabody's salary was generally paid to him in goods and the diaries describe his elaborate system of bartering (and begging) for his living supplies. Throughout the years, Peabody commented upon contemporary political and religious topics. The 1777-1778 diary contains observations on the Revolution, as seen from the parsonage and discussed in the papers and with neighbors. He faithfully read newspapers and supported the precepts of federalism. He opposed the proponents of paper money and Shays' Rebellion. Religiously, Peabody was an orthodox Calvinist. Strong condemnations of Arminians, Methodists, Baptists and Hopkinsians are scattered throuhout the diaries. In the field of education, Peabody apparently held more liberal views. He was a founder and devoted supporter of the Atkinson Academy, established in 1787. Scholars were boarded in the parsonage and, as a result of his daughter Polly's insistence, the Atkinson Academy is credited as being the first coeducational school of its kind. Peabody provides extensive details of the administration and numerous controversies revolving around the school. Also of note in the later diaries are Peabody's records of visits with former President John Adams and his wife Abigail. Peabody's account book records the financial arrangements of those scholars from the Academy who boarded with him. It covers the years 1792 to 1801 and 1807 to 1808. A note was added by William Smith Shaw Peabody (1818-1877) (Stephen's grandson) that he had examined and copied the names from the book in 1868. Similar accounts for the years 1804-1814 are contained in the 1804-1805 diary. Also contained in this collection are miscellaneous notes, newspaper clippings and short diary transcriptions. They are filed with the photocopy 1767 diary.

12 v. ; octavo.1 folder (18 items)

American Antiquarian Society