Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Hammond, Cyrena (fl. 1865) [Journal]

High-resolution images are available to schools and libraries via subscription to American History, 1493-1943. Check to see if your school or library already has a subscription. Or click here for more information. You may also order a pdf of the image from us here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09413 Author/Creator: Hammond, Cyrena (fl. 1865) Place Written: Bergen, New York Type: Diary Date: 1865 Pagination: 147 p. ; 10 x 6.5 cm. Order a Copy

One hundred and thirty three pages of diary entries and handwritten notes. Fourteen pages with preprinted text, including a title page and printed calendars. Previous research indicated that this is a "journal of Western New York teenager;" the title page cites "North Bergen" as Hammond's location. Discusses school and her friends: "Danced all the morn, & at recess we went out on the meeting house steps and danced for sharp to fiddle" (6 January 1865). On 9 January 1865, mentions attending a temperance meeting. In a note at the end of the diary, Hammond writes: "The 29 of this month, Loren Hill was trying to entertain the sabbath school with his talk which runs as follow: Every Girl should be brought up in Sunday School. I have got four girls, They expect to become wives and in order to make them good wives they must be brought up in the sunday school. Most young girls ... do more to ruin young men than young men do themselves. Had Mrs Booth been a real genuine woman Wilkes Booth would never have commited the deed he did. As long as I have any controll over my children they will attend the sunday school. This run his speech untill every body was disgusted."

Hammond, Cyrena, fl. 1865
Booth, John Wilkes, 1838-1865

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources