Family About Library

Browse Items (12 total)

  • Collection: Writings about Daily Life

ma00249-01-12-00048_LQ Diary.pdf
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 meals.

High School Notes  copy.pdf
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." The journal even includes accounts of organized football games.

Ida Farr Prologue copy.pdf

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.

Ida Farr's Journal  copy.pdf
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 and warm friendships. The journal ends in 1874, with Ida budgeting and scrimping so as to be able to continue to attend High School in Newburyport.

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 years, the history of the Nelson family reunion, her archival work with the Goshen historical society, her feelings about her grandfather, growing up in the 19th century, and her reaction to the discovery of the Nelson brothers’ juvenilia.

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 wished she had met/knew, her early encounter with Arthur Nelson, the resources available to the Nelson brothers during the 19th century, details about the Nelson family farm and creamery, her fondness for other Nelson relatives, and the beneficial nature of the Nelson brothers’ juvenilia collection.

Ida Farr Hillsboro Lyceum 1875.pdf
A year before her marriage to Hial Nelson, Ida Farr served as "Editress" for what purports to be the March 13, 1875 issue of the weekly newspaper of the Hillsboro Lyceum Association. Ida herself wrote an essay titled "Home" for the Journal which also contains a generally humorous and flirtatious collection of poems, announcements, and conundrums. The Hillsboro Lyceum and its publications may well have served as a model for the family lyceum that Ida would later convene in the Nelson parlor.

My Library copy.pdf
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.

Sketch of the life of Ida Farr Nelson (1940).pdf
Memoir written by Ida Farr Nelson in 1940 when she was in her mid-80s . It was written at the request of her granddaughter Doris Nelson Newman and transcribed in 2017 by her great-grandson Brian Nelson Burford. The text includes information about Ida's own childhood in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as her teenage and adult life in Goshen, New Hampshire. She includes some recollections of her sons' childhoods, and more information about their lives as grown men.

Sketches of Home Life vol 1 copy.pdf

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 of the Farmers Boy,” “Our Early Play Times” by Walter, “Our Cameras” by Elmer, hunting and camping entries from Arthur and Elmer, as well as other notable happenings of the family’s everyday lives. 

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