Call Number:

Item 0050

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 volume (178 pages)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0097, Item 0050, Daily journal of Milford High School, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1852 january 24-october 22 (inclusive)

Creator:

Milford High School (Milford, Mass.)

Form:

Diaries and School records

Abstract:

This daily journal of Milford High School in Milford, Massachusetts, contains autograph entries chronicling the daily thoughts and activities of its students in 1852.

Milford High School was founded on November 12, 1850, in Milford, Massachusetts. Until 1852, Rev. Elias Nason served as its teacher and S. Adelaide Scott assisted him, also teaching some classes. At the start of the summer term in 1852, Mr. Nason was replaced by Alfred Washington Pike, an experienced teacher and graduate of Dartmouth. He taught at Milford High School for only one year.

Education in the town of Milford was overseen by the General School Committee. The town was divided into twelve districts until 1854, and all but one had its own schoolhouse for the lower, or grammar, school. At the time this journal was written, the town of Milford had circa 1,000 "educable children," children between the ages of three and 16. The high school had approximately sixty students, both male and female. School was in session Monday through Saturday.

Adin Ballou,History of the Town of Milford, Worcester County, Massachusetts, from Its First Settlement to 1881(Boston: Franklin Press, 1882).Additional historical information derived from the collection.

This daily journal of Milford High School in Milford, Massachusetts, contains autograph entries chronicling the daily thoughts and activities of its students in 1852.

The journal of Milford High School contains autograph entries written by the students. Each student wrote daily in both the morning and afternoon for approximately one week. Some students kept entries for several different weeks. The entries were dated with the day of the week and month, but the numerical dates given are often incorrect.

The entries document the students’ thoughts and opinions of the curriculum and each other as well as the daily activities at the school including lessons, recitations, and recess. The teacher also led the students in singing and prayer. The student body was divided into multiple classes, and not all students studied the same subjects or at the same level. Subjects studied include grammar, writing, reading, spelling, arithmetic, algebra, chemistry, physiology, astronomy, geography, philosophy, Latin, French, German, drawing, music, and "partnership."

The students signed their names at the end of the last entry they wrote. The students who kept entries in this volume were Ellen Carpenter, Sarah Janette Dodge, Edwin L. Willis, Marion Parkhurst, L. Taft, Georgia Anne Danik (?), Susan W. Brigham, M. E. Whitmore, F. Dean, E. J. Kilborn, Helen P. Eames, Phebe A. Yorry, P. Whitmore, F. M. Cheney, Mary L. Barks, P. B. Cook, Melissa Maria Perry, H. C. Bullard, and Hellen M. Pond.