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Lenora E. Clark Diary, Northwestern University Settlement Records

 Collection
Identifier: 41/10

  • Staff Only
  • No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

Clark's diary is a four-by-six inch bound book. The printed title page describes it as “Ward's ‘Line a Day’ Book, A comparative record for five years” (copyright 1892). The ‘comparative’ format is unusual: each page is printed with a month and date, and is divided horizontally into five sections; the diarist fills in the events of each date five years in a row, resulting in a unique retrospective view. In order to fit so many entries on each small page, each entry is allotted only four short lines.

Clark wrote her name and address in the front of the diary. Entries began with January, 1906 and ended with December 31, 1910, although the first several weeks of 1906 were blank or incomplete and there are a few other blank dates. A few entries and end-of -year reflections continue into the ‘memoranda’ section at the end of the diary. Over the years, Clark wrote in several colors of ink and pencil. Clark's handwriting is hard to read, and when she referred to critical points in her romances she resorted to cryptic notes, exclamation points and dashes. Entries made during the last year of the diary, 1910, were even briefer than usual, and Clark's handwriting became even less legible.

Dates

  • 1906-1910

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is stored off-site and requires two business days advance notice for retrieval. Please contact the McCormick Library at specialcollections@northwestern.edu or 847-491-3635 for more information or to schedule an appointment to view the collection.

Extent

1.00 Boxes

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Clark's diary is a four-by-six, bound book. The printed title page describes it as “Ward's ‘Line a Day’ Book, A comparative record for five years” (copyright 1892). The ‘comparative’ format is unusual: each page is printed with a month and date, and is divided horizontally into five sections; the diarist fills in the events of each date five years in a row, resulting in a unique retrospective view. In order to fit so many entries on each small page, each entry is allotted only four short lines.
Clark wrote her name and address in the front of the diary. Entries began with January, 1906 and ended with December 31, 1910, although the first several weeks of 1906 were blank or incomplete and there are a few other blank dates. A few entries and end-of -year reflections continue into the ‘memoranda’ section at the end of the diary. Over the years, Clark wrote in several colors of ink and pencil. Clark's handwriting is hard to read, and when she referred to critical pints in her romances she resorted to cryptic notes, exclamation points and dashes. Entries made during the last year of the diary, 1910, were even briefer than usual.

Method of Acquisition

This diary was separated from the Northwestern University Settlement Records, donated to the University Archives by Doris Overboe on behalf of the Northwestern University Settlement, as Accession 94-70, on June 7, 1994.

Separated Materials

None.

Processing Information

Janet C. Olson, March 1997.

Title
Guide to the Lenora E. Clark Diary, Northwestern University Settlement Records
Author
Janet C. Olson
Date
01/03/1997
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
eng

Library Details

Part of the Northwestern University Archives Repository

Contact:
Deering Library, Level 3
1970 Campus Dr.
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-3635