I spent many a harried, tweaking night at the University of Iowa Library in my college days. Though I love libraries with all my being, I never truly appreciated the U of I stacks and reading rooms — probably because I was always too freaked out about making a deadline or studying for an exam while I was there. However, the brilliant Kelly of Nothing is New (one of my favorite blogs) turned me on to the Iowa Digital Library in the course of her Archive Road Trip, whereupon she trawls the nation’s digital archives, state by state.
After poking around the Digital Library — of which there is an abundance of cool stuff, and I’ll be posting much more! — I came across (and was blown away by) their collection of historic Iowa children’s diaries. These tomes originated with early settler children — teenagers, actually — of the 1850s through the early 20th century. The best part is that some have been transcribed and biographies of the kids are provided. I kind of fell in love with the pages of the last diary shown above, mostly because of the doodles, kept by 14 year old Linnie Hagerman (1852-1934), of Keokuk, Iowa. (Check out that handwriting! Gorgeously messy.) Born in Missouri in 1852, Linnie moved with her family to Keokuk at age 10, and remained there for the rest of her life. She began drawing by doodling in her diary, and later became an artist, creating many oil paintings during the 1880s.
