Writings about Daily Life

As Arthur writes in 1898, High School Notes was intended to be filled with stories of high school times, but when the boys switched from Newport to Haverhill high school, the journal was filled with "Haverhill, Photographing, and Hunting sketches."…

Ida Farr’s journal is an account of her “daily joys, sorrows, trials, perplexities etc.” The account begins in 1872 and includes detailed stories and events of a religious, studious, New Hampshire girlhood characterized by strong family ties…

My Library is a school essay written by Elmer Nelson and corrected by his teacher, describing his personal collection of books and his passion for travel and adventure.

Prologue to Ida Farr's 1872 journal written by her granddaughter Doris Nelson Newman. It provides illuminating context and family history, especially about Ida's parents Eleazer Farr and Charity Tandy, and about Ida's own childhood in Philadelphia.

The Worcester/Boston Trip consists of original diary entries (eventually copied by the Nelson brothers into Sketches of Our Home Life, Vol. 2) that provide a detailed account of a trip to Worcester and Boston by one of the brothers. The diary…

Sketches of Our Home Life, Vol 1 is a detailed account about notable aspects of the Nelson family’s life written by Hial, Ida, Elmer, Arthur, and Walter. This volume includes an opening journal entry by Ida, poetry by Hial, including “The Joys…

In March of 1897, Elmer, Arthur, and Walter state that they wrote Sketches of Our Home Life Vol. 2  to “get in some of [their] later adventures.” These adventures include accounts of hunting and camping trips around New Hampshire, descriptions…

Elmer's Hunting Diary includes stories about his hunting excursion with Uncle Oren, Arthur, Walter, and his father on Nov. 18th-19th. The account details the boys' successful hunting of hedgehogs, their construction of a campsite, and preperation of…

Check out Part 1 of our interview with Beatrice Jillette, granddaughter of Elmer Nelson and current resident in Goshen, NH. In this interview, she discusses her decision to move to Goshen from NYC, her various jobs held while living in Goshen for 50…

Listen to Part 2 of our interview with Beatrice Jillette, granddaughter of Elmer Nelson and current resident of Goshen, NH. In this particular interview, Beatrice discusses the current state of imaginative play in Goshen, which Nelson brother she…