Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16743, Chestnuts manuscript newspaper, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was purchased from Caroliniana by the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on August 24, 2020.

Content Description

This collection consists of 26 handwritten amateur newspapers titled "Chestnuts,"by a group of ten girls calling themselves "WG's," the Woodfords Girls, who lived in the Woodfords neighborhood of Portland, Maine. It is likely they attended Deering High School, as the initials DHS appear several times.

The newspapers contain original poetry, personals, advertisements, and editorials. Some include several small ink sketches. A few of the issues include riddles, local crime and fake police activity, and local business activity. The back page of each issue features a series of advertisements, with a focus on "medicinal" products reminiscent of printed newspapers of the day.

There are ten issues of "Chestnuts," volumes 1-10, plus ten supplements. The girls later renamed the newspaper "Hawthorne" and the run includes volumes 1-3 of this paper, plus three supplements. The newspapers are four pages and are laid into a hand decorated wrapper titled "Chestnuts Vol I, " also listing the names of the ten girls who contributed to the newspaper.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• newspapers