In this episode, we share three stories from three diaries. In the first, you will hear about a young school teacher who wrote out her idea of "The Basic Needs Of Every Life". She beat Abraham Maslow and his "Hierarchy of Needs" by twenty years, as her ideas and his are very similar. Next, we visit the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. We share diary entries by a 21 year old man, who had a unique job at the fair. His very first entry mentioned "danger from fire" and was written months before a tragic fire that killed 12 Firefighters in full view of fair goers. The final diary for this episode was written by a soldier in the Spanish American War of 1898. He transcribed two newspaper articles in his diary regarding a "dastard" who committed a crime "worse than cold blooded murder".

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Please go to: https://diarydiscoveries.com to see episode photos and read our blog. Thank You.

The 1859 gold rush to Colorado is on! "Pike's Peak or bust!" was the saying of many a fortune hunter who headed out west, but what about those left behind? In this episode, passages from a newly married woman's diary are read, and we discuss some aspects of the gold rush itself. Mira missed her husband Ziba dearly and she wrote down her deepest thoughts. Imagine today having to wait months to learn about a loved one's situation, or possibly hearing nothing at all until they returned. There were physical and emotional hardships on both ends during a time when many people died separated from each other.

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Please go to: https://diarydiscoveries.com to see episode photos and read our blog. Thank You.

"Holy Jumpers", an Immigrant girl named Olga, and a shootout between a "revenue posse" and a moonshining family in the hills of Kentucky, all of which have a connection to Effie Waller Smith, the teacher and poet from our last episode. Sally's favorite Diary was written by Olga, and in this episode we explore the connective threads from Effie to Olga in the Metropolitan Holiness Church and then Effie's connection to the shootout. You will hear a "colorfully" written newspaper article read by us with a little "extra" added because this article simply demanded more from us-- for you!

Fiddle music by Charlie Smith, from Arkansas. Recorded on the street in Salida, Co

Shotgun, rifle, and pistol sound effects from: Free Sounds Library www.freesoundslibrary.com and Sound Effects + www.soundeffectsplus.com

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Please go to: https://diarydiscoveries.com to see episode photos and read our blog. Thank You.

Two women born the same year-1879, both given the same first name, both poets, and living only 150 miles apart. One was a black woman, the other, a white woman. Both eventually were known as Effie Smith. What are the odds? In this episode, we uncover the fact that one writer's work has been credited to the other. Sally aquired a 1906 diary and two journal like composition books filled with short stories, essays, and poems. The author's name was not in any of the three manuscripts but when Sally read the diary and used the clues within, she discovered the author's name; Effie Smith! But which Effie? Listen and you will find out. We would like to thank writer/poet Leatha Kendrick for her scholarly work on this subject and the time she gave us in our interview.

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Please go to: https://diarydiscoveries.com to see episode photos and read our blog. Thank You.

This is the amazing story of the most serendipitous experience Sally has had in her years of collecting and researching vintage diaries! It is an almost unbelievable occurance that began in 1938, originating with a diary written by a twelve year old girl.

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Please go to: https://diarydiscoveries.com to see episode photos and read our blog. Thank You.

In this episode, we share from a 1940's dream journal. The author kept a record of about a month's worth of her dreams. From strange creatures playing ball to an Italian hurdy gurdy man with an inflated cow like bagpipe organ, she is all over the place! And aren't we all when we dream? We also share some significant dreams each of us have had including a beautifully described dream of Sally's which you may need tissue for your eyes while listening.

dream sound effect from:

License: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).


http://www.freesoundslibrary.com

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Please go to: https://diarydiscoveries.com to see episode photos and read our blog. Thank You.

In this final part of Alexander's diary, he has arrived in Boston after his first voyage as a ship's surgeon. He is in America for the first time and has much to write about as he compares Boston to his hometown Glasgow. He tours the city with an expat veterinarian, samples the beer and rye whiskey, and meets an influential law professor at Harvard. Then after returning to Scotland he takes a voyage to Iceland. His story is an amazing adventure and he has "the sight of a lifetime". He writes many pages describing the grandeur before him, his climb of a volcano, the hospitable Icelandic people, and a close encounter with a whale! This mans writing lured us into recording four episodes rather than just the one we had planned. We hope you have been enjoying his story as much as we have.

Music in this episode: "The Sea is Calling" by Musictown. Courtesy of Pixabay.
Train Bells courtesy of Soundeffectsplus.com

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Please go to: https://diarydiscoveries.com to see episode photos and read our blog. Thank You.

In this episode, Alexander is going to sea! Fifteen years following the "Fenwick Escapade" his boyhood wish is becoming a reality. His medical training and time at school has finished. You will hear about his last days in training, the wonderful send off he was given, and his beautifully written thoughts regarding Nurse McGee. He transitions to life aboard a ship as the only medical authority on board and the immense responsibility he felt. All activities at sea are new to him so he writes about most of it giving us a great idea of what a voyage in 1888 would be like. He fills the pages with descriptions of patients, crew members, passengers, and shipboard duties. All written wonderfully by this young man of 26.

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Please go to: https://diarydiscoveries.com to see episode photos and read our blog. Thank You.