The collection is open to research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Emily Augusta Shade Diary, Ms1992-004, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Emily Augusta Shade Diary was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in 1992.
The processing and description of the Emily Augusta Shade Diary commenced and was completed in September, 2023.
Emily Augusta Shade, daughter of Robert and Marie Roosevelt Shade Elvish, was born in New Jersey around 1821. (She seems likely to have been a child of a previous marriage of her mother's.) The 1850 federal census records a 29-year-old Emily Shade, a native of New Jersey, living in the Pike County, Illinois home of Maria Elvish, 50. Also listed in the home are Maria Elvish, 15, and Francis Elvish, 13, both born in Kentucky. The 1855 Illinois state census shows Emily "Shad" living in Pike County. Enumerated in the household are one white female between 10 and 20 years of age, one white female between 20 and 30, and one white female between 30 and 40. The 1870 federal census lists a 48-year-old housekeeper named Emily Shade living in Perry (Pike County), Illinois, with three children named "Conditt," ranging in age from 7 to 12, most likely the children of her half-sister, Anna Maria Elvish Condit (1835-1864). The census notes that Shade was a native of New Jersey. Emily A. Shade died on April 16, 1872.
This collection consists of a single diary maintained by Emily Augusta Shade, an unmarried schoolteacher living in Pike County, Illinois during the mid-19th century. In very infrequent entries from 1853 to 1860, Shade focuses on her religious devotion and frequent self-admonishments to be a better person, while also describing various church meetings and services that she attended. The diary also contains works of poetry and essays (at least some of which had been copied from other writers), together with memorials to deceased family members and others. Glued into the diary are three newspaper clippings relating to religious subjects. The diary is accompanied by two cross-stitch bookmarks and a newspaper clipping.
The guide to the Emily Augusta Shade Diary by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).
This item had been purchased, accessioned, and originally cataloged as the Emily Augusta Shade Elvish Diary, but a closer examination and research in 2023 revealed the diarist's name to have been Emily Augusta Shade.