Skip to main content

Mercy Jane Bancroft Blair, Diaries

 Collection
Identifier: MS-0230

Scope and Contents

Mercy Jane Bancroft kept diaries from 1859 until 1900. The diaries detail many aspects of daily life and significantly, the creation of a quilt, now housed at the International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The materials also include a Devotional and Practical Polyglot Family Bible published in 1870 by the National Publishing Company and Jones Brothers and Co. The bible contains information on marriages, births, and deaths within the Bancroft/Blair family. Sixteen unidentified photographs were included in the back of the bible. These photographs have been rehoused. Copies of the diaries were made on acid-free paper.

Dates

  • 1860-1900

Creator

Biographical / Historical

Mercy Jane Bancroft Blair, was born July 13, 1825 in Plymoth, New York. She had one brother and three sisters. Blair was a traveling dressmaker, she kept diaries in which she kept a record of her work and the people she met. She also wrote of her religious activities. She married Addison Blair, a widower with one son, on November 19, 1863. She and her husband moved to South Hill, Pennsylvania. The couple had no children. Blair's mother-in-law and father-in-law lived with them in their home in Pennsylvania. Blair died on June 18, 1900.

Extent

2.7 Linear Feet (7 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Related Materials

A quilt (No. 1997.997.0852) referenced in the Bancroft Diaries is located at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska.

  • Photographs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
  • Quilting Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
  • Quiltmakers Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
  • Quilts Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
  • diaries Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries Repository

Contact:
Archives & Special Collections
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
P.O. Box 884100
Lincoln NE 68588-4100 United States
402-472-2531