Julia Wilbur "Excelsior" diary, 1881

431 pages. Wilbur wrote daily page-length entries describing significant events in detail. Much of diary discusses her working conditions at the Patent Office and her correspondence. Other themes include her health, her relationship with her sister Frances Hartwell, and the assassination and funeral of President James A. Garfield. The diary also discusses congressional sessions and White House receptions which Wilbur attended throughout the year, as well as a women’s suffrage convention in January and a temperance convention in October. The notes in the back of the diary record over a decade of Memorial ("Decoration") Day events Wilbur attended and summarize her finances. See also mc1158_06_06_001, a diary kept by Wilbur’s sister Mary Van Buskirk during a visit to Washington in September 1881.

Subjects: Women--Diaries; United States. Patent Office; Women in the civil service; Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; Presidents--Assassination; Funeral rites and ceremonies; Memorial Day

Relevant locations: Washington (D.C.); Alexandria (Va.)