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James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
880 Madison DriveAlicia Henneberry and Jane Lightfoot
[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Eleanor McCartney Papers, 1883, 1891, SC 0216, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Donated by Dan Stickley in April 2009 with the Peyton Dagg ledger.
The recipes were originally housed inside an accompanying envelope labeled "Recipes, etc.".
In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in 2017-2018. This collection was previously cataloged as SC 5042.
Little biographical information can be gleaned from McCartney's papers. A one-page diary entry - in an otherwise blank notebook - dated January 26, 1883, reads, "Today my dear son Edgar has left home for the west." This single entry does not appear to have been written by the same hand as Eleanor's 1891 diary. There is frequent mention of Eleanor's uncle and aunt, Phillip and Annie Sheaff of Warren County, Virginia in the 1891 diary.
The Eleanor McCartney Papers, 1883, 1891, consist of a personal diary, handwritten recipes, and other items belonging to Eleanor McCartney of the Winchester, Virginia area. The diary spans nearly all of 1891, and includes daily entries describing Eleanor's activities, updates related to family and friends, and religious musings. Her religious beliefs are prominent, as she discusses Bible verses and debates theological ideas in almost every entry. She frequently discusses the weather and community members. Visits by her and her family to Middletown, Winchester, and Front Royal are described. Accompanying the diary is a postcard from Bridgewater, Virginia, a small notebook with a single entry, and an envelope with three recipes.
The collection is arranged topically.
Notebook; Bridgewater, Virgina postcard of "Longest single span wooden bridge in the world 250 ft."; recipes for grape wine, "insects on roses," and directions for scrubbing furniture.