New-york

Labor. New York. Jehovah's Witness. Edward W. Hussey.ABAA

New York carpenter's daily diary for 1890 written in pencil in a cheap lined composition book.

189018000New York January 1 1890 to August 31 1890. Covers worn corners worn smudged and foxed throughout; Edward clipped a portion of one leaf with a loss of some text; in good condition but legible and sound. Lined composition book in original pictorial wrappers entitled "Exercises" 8.25 x 6.75 inches 138 pages. A detailed entertaining legible observant daily account of life in Manhattan for a 20-year-old carpenter going to night school attending union rallies spending evenings playing harmonica and reading early Jehovah's Witness literature swimming in the North River looking for work in slack times or negotiating salaries with bosses and showing curiosity about the hurly-burly of cultures and commerce in New York. The diary includes his penciled ownership note to the head of the second page E. W. Hussey 265 W. 32nd St. N. Y. City; Edward appears to live with his brother Stephen W. Hussey called Walter to distinguish him from their father the English-born carpenter Stephen and mention in the text of family members like Ida taken with clues to his brother's birth in Philadelphia and close personal ties to Monmouth County New Jersey the family often visits the shore at Oceanic further help determine the identity of the diarist and his family relations. Edward generally works six days a week noting in his daily entries his specific jobs. Edward spends much of the first part of the year fixing up what would be the townhouse of prominent socialite Mrs. Brockholst Cutting at 99 Madison Avenue; among other jobs he also works in the shop turning out balusters or building book shelves helps pull down an illegal shack or fitting out a cigar store at 786 9th Avenue--this last an unpleasant job as Edward notes on April 15: "fitting out cigar store etc. 1 day. This fellow that is taking the store is a bad man a gambler pool man and Louisiana Lottery man and a shameless man." Indeed Edward's sense of moral duty seems to run deep; he records his daily reading faithfully often stopping up at the Cooper Union reading room or the Apprentices' Library or ordering cheap books from Ogilvie he is willing to spend a whopping three dollars however on a copy of the popular physiology and marriage manual Cowan's Science of a New Life which he reads and then passes along to his older sister Mary; he outlines at one point his displeasure over his new Webster's Abridged Dictionary no maps no illustrations no biographies or notes his daily reading up on phrenology or geometry or how to be a better carpenter or regular reading from the Bible or from the Charles Taze Russell's works Millennial Dawn or Zion's Watch Tower. On March 24 he makes up his mind to give handbills advertising Millennial Dawn and Zion's Watch Tower to a friend to distribute and later loans a friend an entire year's run of the Watch Tower--or as he usually refers to it in his diary Z.W.T. Edward also reads popular literary papers like Argosy and various daily papers mentioning at one point an "Extra" on the botched Kemler execution with his tastes seeming to run to Pulitzer's World--though the general tenor of yellow journalism prompts him to note ruefully on June 27 "There seems to be nothing but bad women and bad men in the papers lately." Hussey further betters himself by attending night school through April when he finally gets a diploma under the tutelage of long-time New York educator William J. Goldey ca. 1828-1907 often participating in formal class debates recorded in his diary such as the one held the evening of February 7 when Edward took the affirmative on the question whether organizations are beneficial to the working man: "the majority were in favor of Organization also the regular debaters of the Aff. had the better of the debate because they were on the right side perhaps partial." Edward also attends a mock-congress held by Goldey on March 28 "the subject handled was that there should be an Amendment to the Constitution to admit women suffrage! Ladies were present some laughable scenes were pictured the vote Neg. 16 Aff. 11." Edward also shows an interest in labor organizing attending a lecture on Feb. 5 "on the Labor movement for the last 20 yrs. by L. Sanial i.e. the Socialist Labor journalist Lucien Saniel a frenchman: very good" or writing about a carpenters' strike against an employer on Feb. 21 or detailing his attendance at a May Day rally at Union Square the effects of the 8-hour day debate on his brother's prospects taking a walk over to the 42nd St. station on August 10 to take a look at a strike or his visit on July 6 to the Cloakmakers Union Hall on Suffolk Street there had been a riot and police beatings against strikers a few days previous though Edward notes "I saw no signs of distress whatever men where there talking a good deal in Hebrew. I then walked out read W. W. Weekly World a little while sitting on stoop near Ridley's dry hood store in the side st's it was litteraly sic swarming with Jews all trading in there sic own way for it was not the sabbath with them." The changing demographics of New York City and the influx of Jews comes up several times in Hussey's diary and he shows a welcome tolerance--even noting one Friday on July 11 "I took a run out tonight to see if I could attend a Jewish church but found none." On a boat ride back from Monmouth County New Jersey on August 7 Edward notes "on the voyage up I had quite a chat with a small about 40 yr. old Jew from Manasquan N. J. quite agreeable of course smooth of tongue he seemed to take a little liking to me as I am not bigoted against Jews he with another was going Bro'lyn N. Y." Edward then buys a watermelon and has soft shell crabs for dinner. Throughout the account runs the thread of a young man pulled between the obligations of adulthood he notes arguments with his father to whom he gives 80% of his wages until he comes of age and turns 21 in August of 1890 and the pleasures and pull of his youthful pursuits snowball fights with his younger sister blowing soap bubbles with children helping his younger brother on the velocipede and a few veiled and elided references to the perils of his masturbation habits; throughout this account he is clearly attuned to the attractions and textures of daily street life in New York: trips uptown to walk across the Harlem River or over into Weehawken to pick flowers or wild fruit attending meetings of evangelists like Moody or DeWitt Talmage or trying to get a drunk in the Bowery safely into a lodging house or helping another "Drunken fellow" who instead "sat down on steps throwing up etc. got a policeman to take him to R. House so he could sleep it off" or perhaps more enjoyably watching a Barnum & Bailey circus parade from the roof of his building or taking an excursion down to Philadelphia and seeing the "Cracked Bell" and Baldwin's Locomotive Works this trip given in fine detail or paying ten cents on the street to hear an Edison phonograph play three songs including the "McGinty Song" or reporting on his brother's base ball team or his own efforts in ball-throwing contests or his trying out of a street-corner demonstration "lung tester." Edward swims in the North River the latter-day Hudson takes long walks through the city and on occasion takes in an art exhibition or competes for the affections of young Ida Murphy. The diary closes with his efforts to get a satisfactory photographic portrait to send to friends and family; a gem tintype portrait in a folk thread-and-pin frame found with the diary is likely a portrait of Edward himself. Census records later put Edward in Bayonne N. J. in 1900 with a wife named Johanna. Her parents were both natives of Austria. By 1910 he is found in Union N. J. where his profession is given as a barn builder and he lives with Johanna their adopted daughter Helen both of Edward's parents and Johanna's mother Henrietta Bronston. In all a remarkable and perceptive record of a bright thoughtful working-class young man taking full advantage of the street life of Manhattan and of improving his mind. January 1, 1890 to August 31, unknown books

Garrett Scott, Bookseller (ABAA) · États-Unis1 000,00 $US≈ 846,10 €

Filtres actifs

Siècle

Langage

Ajouté

Sujets

Catalogues

Filtres actifs

Siècle

Langage

Ajouté

Sujets

Catalogues

Filtres actifs

Siècle

Langage

Ajouté

Sujets

Catalogues