(TRAVEL) Stearns Helen J Diary of a New York womans eventful

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(TRAVEL.) Stearns, Helen J. Diary of a New York woman's eventful visit to Washington. [32] manuscript diary pages, plus 14 pages of manuscript memoranda. Thin 8vo, 7 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches, original calf, minor wear; minor dampstaining, very irregular entries but quite extensive for the Washington trip, handwriting small but tidy, minor dampstaining. Vp, 2 February to 30 October 1870

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Helen Josephine Dike Stearns (1834-1915) was the wife of a prosperous wool merchant, and had recently moved from Brooklyn to Nanuet, north of the city. The diary begins with a February visit to Providence, RI where she had lived until her marriage. Most of the diary is devoted to her late April visit to Washington. She attended a session of Congress on 18 April. "Went to President's wife's reception, shook hands with Grant & Mrs. G. She is a very common looking woman, stout, middle sized, shld think she might be Irish" (19 April, recorded on 20 February). She describes a visit to Mount Vernon at length on 22 April (carried over to 16 January), accompanied by the wife of Senator Pomeroy of Kansas, followed by dinner at the Pomeroys' house where she met several other congressmen. The next day, she met Representative James Brooks of New York: "In the House, a ___, but in private life delightful, a splendid looking man" (23 April). On Sunday, she "attended colored church, but a white minister preached. A handsome lot of girls & children & really elegant looking ladies who are so light I cld barely believe there were of African origin" (24 April). She does not sign the diary, but mentions her late father Albyn Valentine Dike on 27 October and her newborn son Albyn Valentine Stearns on 7 and 27 October.