by Hannah Elder, Associate Reference Librarian for Rights & Reproductions 

Today, we return to the transcription of Clara E. Currier’s 1925 diary. Currier was a working-class woman who lived in or near Haverhill, MA. Her diary records her daily activities—from fiber arts to paid employment to observations of the natural world—providing insight into daily life a century ago. You can find entries for January in a past blog post. 

February ushers in a series of dull days, which Clara fills with work, her fiber crafts, and entertainments with friends. She observes more cosmological and geological events and weathers a few storms. Clara starts taking home paychecks from her work and records her pay for the week on Thursdays.

Feb. 1, Sun. Fair and warmer, went to church and S.S, went up to Stephen’s for the afternoon, Charley and Delia came up after supper.

Feb. 2, Mon. Snow, wrote letters.

Feb. 3, Tues. Dull, went to Grange

Feb. 4, Wed. Fair, went over to see Blanche, crocheted.

Feb. 5, Thurs. [$]19 Fair, crocheted.

Feb. 6, Fri. Fair, went up town and cooked.

Feb 7, Sat. Fair and warmer, went to Haverhill about glasses and over home, had a sleighride.

Feb. 8, Sun. Fair and warm, went out skiing, saw a partial eclipse of the moon on the full, William brought me back. Wrote to Mrs. Muller.

Feb. 9, Mon. Dull with fog at night, went to class meeting, crocheted.

Feb. 10, Tues. Foggy, Blache came over.

Feb. 11, Wed. Foggy and rain, went over to Dennis’s and heard some fine music on the radio, crocheted.

Feb. 12, Thurs. [$]19. Foggy, knit and crocheted.

Feb. 13, Fri. Fair, went to the Swanee River Quartet concert (colored) at the Methodist Church with Sizzie and Blanche.

Feb. 14, Sat. Fair, washed and cooked, went uptown.

Feb. 15, Sun. Rain, went up to Delia’s for afternoon and evening with Sizzie.

Feb. 16, Mon. Fair, wrote letters and cooked.

Feb. 17, Tues. Dull, went to Grange.

Feb. 18, Wed. Fair, went to Legion play, “The Village School.[”]

Feb. 19, Thurs. [$]19 Fair, worked until six o’clock.

Feb. 20, Fri. Fair, worked until six then went up to Stephen’s.

Feb. 21, Sat. Fair, worked until 4 o’clock then went up home, Charles and Mabel came after me.

Feb. 22, Sun. Fair and springlike, went out after pussy willows, William and Mary brought me back.

Feb. 23, Mon. Dull and rainy, worked all day until six, went to class meeting.

Feb. 24, Tues. Dull, then cleared, worked until six, went up town at noon.

Feb. 25, Wed. Dull, worked until six, knit.

Feb. 26, Thurs. [$]20.90 Rain ^{hail, snow,} and cleared out at night, very cold and windy, waited on table at men’s club banquet, had Rev. Mr. Lindsay to speak.

Feb. 27, Fri. Fair and cold, worked until six, heard radio at Mrs. Dennis’s.

Feb. 28, Sat. Fair, worked until four o’clock, went up town, had an earthquake shock at 9.30 P.M shoke the house.

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff.

*Please note that this diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original.

This line-a-day blog series is inspired by and in honor of MHS reference librarian Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook (1981–2023), whose entertaining and enlightening line-a-day blog series ran from 2015 to 2019. Her generous, humane, and creative approach to both history and librarianship continues to influence the work of the MHS library.

by Hannah Elder, Associate Reference Librarian for Rights & Reproductions 

Long time readers of the blog may recall a series of posts that ran from 2015 to 2019, transcribing a line-a-day diary from exactly one century before. This series was run by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, who at the time of her passing in 2023 was the Senior Reference Librarian here at the MHS. Anna was mid-way through that series when I started at the MHS and it quickly became one of my favorite features on the blog. In memory of Anna and to bring back a delightful, regular read, I want to pick up the series and bring to you, our lovely readers, a new diary transcription project.

For 2025 we will be journeying with Clara E. Currier, a woman who lived in or near Haverhill, Massachusetts, and her 1925 diary. Blog readers first met Currier in a 2022 blog post about the 1918 influenza pandemic, which Currier mentioned in her diary for that year. Currier was a regular diarist and while we only have her diaries for 1 July 1918 to 31 December 1919, 1 January 1925 to 31 March 1926, and 1 January 1928 to 1932, I speculate that she kept a diary for most of her adult life. While I haven’t been able to learn much about Currier’s life from sources outside of her diaries, the diaries do tell me that she had a small circle of friends and family in the area, wore glasses, could knit, crochet, embroider, and sew, and had an active volunteer life.

Without further ado, I present Clara Currier’s 1925 diary.

Jan. 1, Thurs. Fair and cold, sewed.

Jan. 2, Fri. Dull with snow flurries, cold, embroidered. Swept chambers.

Jan. 3, Sat. Dull, snowed and rained a little, went up to Edith Palmer’s, crocheted.

Jan. 4, Sun. Fair, read, went to church in evening.

Jan. 5, Mon. Fair, went over to Frank’s and played whist.

Jan. 6, Tues. Dull and raw, went to Haverhill* to have eyes tested, called on May Pickering, crocheted.

Jan. 7, Wed. Fair, help cut up lard, crocheted and sewed. Saw a flying machine and a earthquake shock.

Jan. 8, Thurs. Fair and warmer, crocheted, went over to Frank to play whist.

Jan. 9, Fri. Fair, lovely moon, worked on bungalow apron, played whist. Swept chambers.

Jan. 10, Sat. Fair, Gertie, Sizzie and Ralph came up.

Jan. 11, Sun. Dull, went to church and over to Uncle Will’s. Charlie, Delia and Ben were there.

Jan. 12, Mon. Snowed, did some embroidery.

Jan. 13, Tues. Snowed a little and cleared, embroidered, played whist.

Jan. 14, Wed. Fair and cold, Mary and I went down to Kate’s for the afternoon and to the Grange Installation by Mr. + Mrs. Otis Eastman in the evening. Listened in on the radio.

Jan. 15, Thurs. Fair, crocheted and played whist.

Jan. 16, Fri. Dull with snow in afternoon and evening, crocheted, done the sweeping.

Jan. 17, Sat. Fair, finished a doily and sewed.

Jan. 18, Sun. Fair with snow flurries, started to read, “Fair Harbor” by Lincoln. [editor’s note: Fair Harbor by Joseph C. Lincoln is available to read for free on the Internet Archive]

Jan. 19, Mon. Fair, finished some insertion, went up and called on Helen West with Mary.

Jan. 20, Tues. Snow, took the 9.45 train for Haverhill and came to Amesbury and went to work after dinner.

Jan. 21, Wed. Fair, went to Haverhill to Rebekah Roll Call.

Jan 22, Thurs. 3.42 Fair with strong wind at night. Settled.

Jan. 23, Fri. Fair, very cold and windy, went up town. 

Jan. 24, Sat. Changeable and warmer, saw the eclipse from start to finish, began to cover from the west side and came off from the top. The moon passed between the earth and sun nearly total, had the appearance of a thunder storm a coming. Went to Haverhill after my glasses. Gertie rode home with me. Got some overshoes.

Jan. 25, Sun. Fair, went to church and called on Cody and Charlie. They have a cute bungalow.

Jan. 26, Mon. Fair and a little warmer, went to Corner Class meeting at Mrs. Fiske.

Jan. 27, Tues. Snow, did some clearing up.

Jan. 28, Wed. Fair and cold, called on John and Mabel and Mrs. Dennis.

Jan. 29, Thurs. Cold with snow at night, cleaned up kitchen. First pay day.

Jan. 30, Fri. Rain and snow and then froze up, icy. Covered my box for grange.

Jan. 31, Sat. Fair and a little warmer, went up town on errands, read.

If you are interested in viewing the diary in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, please visit the library or contact a member of the library staff.

*Please note that this diary transcription is a rough-and-ready version, not an authoritative transcript. Researchers wishing to use the diary in the course of their own work should verify the version found here with the manuscript original.