Between the Covers

Hardcover. Quarto. Measuring 8” x 10”. 75pp. Quarter black cloth with brown marbled paper boards, paper label affixed to the front board labeled, “First + Second Forms, Citizenship 1911-12.” Approximately 9,000 words. Light edgewear with rubbing thus very good, internally fine with clear handwritten text.

A journal written between 1911 and 1912 by Miss Abbott about her life working in Mishkin and Albany, New York. Her job included taking care of and helping young girls obtain America citizenship. The log is somewhat repetitive in the beginning explaining her daily chores, “picked up papers and turned out lights in bathroom and study hall,” “fixed chairs, tidied beds, stopped girls from gossiping,” and “straightened room, stopped girls from talking in bathroom, helped girl with her studies.” Other entries include Abbott separating the girls into groups to clean and take care of their studies as well as remarks about the girls' attitudes and work they’ve completed. Some entries include titles such as, “What I have seen done,” “What I have done,” and “What I have seen people do,” all going into further detail about what Abbott has completed for chores and what the girls under her have completed. Several handwritten letters are laid in the journal from some of Abbott’s pupils. Each one emphasizes all the good things the girls have done and all the rules they haven’t broken. Others discuss less savory topics such as leaving in the night, gossiping, being late to class, missing out on chapel, and other small misdemeanors that could bar the girls from getting citizenship. There is one large photograph measuring 7” x 9” which is a glamourous shot of Abbott and one small photograph measuring 4” x 3” shows a group of girls dressed up in costumes and fighting each other during a theatrical performance. Lastly, there is a typed poem about a soldier dying at war included in the journal, presumably by Abbott or one of her students, “He is dead, the beautiful youth, The heart of honor, the tongue of truth… without a murmur, without a cry: and the neighbors wondered that she should die.”

An intriguing woman’s journal about her daily tasks working in New York as a teacher in 1911 to 1912.

Item #421477