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(CONNECTICUT.) Moore, Elizabeth Potter. Manuscript diary of an educated young Norwich woman. 38 pages. 4to, contemporary quarter 1/4 calf, manuscript label on cover, spine worn and chipped; lightly foxed, in a highly legible hand. Norwich, CT, January to May 1843
Elizabeth Potter Moore (1822-1852) of Norwich, CT attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1841 and 1842. This diary covers the first five months of 1843, just prior to her engagement. Living with her family, she relates the daily household activities such as washing, sewing, quilting, as well as games of chess and other diversions. She attends lectures, reads quite widely, and visits with friends. She also attends church regularly, though does not appear devoted to any particular denomination--one Sunday in March she records attending three different services at three different churches. Her final entry includes some poetry, and her happiness and reverie at her impending marriage are in evidence: "Sweet May: so holy in its repose. Such a pensive quiet reigns over the face of Nature that every restless passion is charmed down and we feel all the natural religion of the soul gently springing up within us." After the period of this diary, Moore married Uriah Pollard and had a daughter, but died in 1852 just before her thirtieth birthday. A sampler she made at the age of nine can be found at the Connecticut Historical Society (see Schoelwer, Connecticut Needlework, page 162).
