Name/Title
Martha Barrows DiaryEntry/Object ID
2023.29.1Description
Handwritten diary of Martha N. (Perkins) Barrows of Willimantic, CT. 1912. Printed, two-entries-per-page daily diary for 1912. Includes monthly "cash account" pages in the back. Martha N. Perkins was born in 1860 in Mansfield, CT. The 1880 U.S. Census shows her, age 19, living with her parents in Mansfield. She married Oscar Bernadotte Barrows, also of Mansfield, in c. 1885. Both the Perkins and Barrows families had levied in Mansfield for several generations. The 1910 U. S. Census shows Oscar and Martha Barrows living in Willimantic at 19 Lincoln Avenue in a rented home. Oscar was a watchman, employed by The Willimantic Machine Company. The Willimantic Machine Company was located at 95 Milk Street. It had been incorporated on April 20, 1899, and in 1912 had capital of $50,000, which made it one of Willimantic ten largest businesses. The President was George E. Stiles and the Secretary/Treasurer was E. H. Holmes. In 1910, the Barrows household also included Martha and Oscar's son, Clarence O. Barrows, 24, a letter carrier for the U.S. Post Office, and Lila Simonds, 26, an inspector at the "thread mill," which probably meant The American Thread Company. Martha did not work outside of the home. Oscar died only four years after Martha wrote her diary, in 1916, aged 59. Martha died in 1938, and is buried in the Old Willimantic Cemetery.Use
Daily diaries like this one were intended primarily for keeping track of important events and financial affairs, not for exploring the writer's feelings or ideas. They tend to be practical, and entries are frequently sentence fragments. Martha's entries reflect this.Context
A day-by-day chronicle of the activities of a working class housewife in a Connecticut mill city.Collection
General CollectionMade/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Barrows, Martha N. (Perkins)Role
DiaristDate made
1912Time Period
20th CenturyPlace
Neighborhood
Willimantic, CTCity
Windham, CTContinent
North AmericaRegion
NortheastInscription/Signature/Marks
Type
SignatureLocation
Title pageTranscription
Mrs. O. B. Barrows, 19 Lincoln Ave., Willimantic, Conn.Language
EnglishLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Tertiary Object Term
DiaryNomenclature Secondary Object Term
JournalNomenclature Primary Object Term
BookNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsLocation
Location
Vault
Vault* Untyped Location
Main Museum BuildingDate
October 8, 2023Created By
historian@millmuseum.orgCreate Date
October 8, 2023Updated By
historian@millmuseum.orgUpdate Date
October 8, 2023
