Standard Diaries
These ephemeral books were popular in the 19th and 20th centuries that were popularized by soldiers during the Civil War. The diaries collected the daily life of everyday people and were designed to be replaced each year. This could include personal addresses/contact information, daily reports on weather and events, and tracking expenses. Common printed material that was often included in the diaries included: annual and monthly calendars, zodiac, legal and religious holidays, units of measurement, metric conversions, global atlas, first aid and poison antidotes, and sun/moon rise and set times.
These models were made at the 2024 Paper and Book Intensive Session 1 class taught by Mary Louise Sullivan. The models were inspired by several exemplar diaries distributed by two major competing stationers: The Standard Diary Company in Cambridge, MA and The Excelsior Diary by the Brentano Brothers in New York City.
Key Features (exceptions apply)
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Pocket-sized, portable construction
- Very thin pages
- Flexible covers of leather, cloth, embossed cloth
- Marbled, stained, or gilded textblock edges
- Fore edge flap cover
- Tucking tab enclosure
- Pencil holder
- Side gusset ephemera pocket
- Blind tooled/embossed cover designs
- Gilded, embossed, or printed logo on cover