Thomas Thornton Mackaness journal

Finding Aid

Prepared by Merritt D. Betts, April 10, 1981; Prepared for the Web by Cara Gilgenbach, April 24, 2006; Last Updated: August 2020

Inclusive Dates: 1802-1804
Extent: .16 cubic foot (1 slim document case)
Physical Location: 11th floor

Historical Note: The journal appears to have had several incarnations. At one time it was used as a scrapbook of printed poems. One of these was taken from a Norwalk Gazette of 1862, indicating that the volume's owner in the 1860s was the Sarah [Prouitt?] of Norwalk, Connecticut whose name appears on the front page.

The book's primary owner, however, was Thomas Thornton Mackaness of New York City whose name appears on the second page. He used the book some sixty years earlier in which to record the daily weather from March of 1802 through December of 1804. Mackaness used about one half of the notebook for his observations. It is possible that the remainder was used by him as well. By turning the book upside down and beginning from the back cover the remaining pages give, in a precise script, various mathematical rules and tables.

The poems pasted over Mackaness's weather recordings have been removed, but were photocopied before removal. The photocopies are filed in the folder behind the journal. There is some damage to the journal entries due to the adhesive residue that remains on some pages, but most of his recordings are still legible.

Scope and Content: This collection includes Mackaness's journal along with photocopies of the poems printed in newspapers that were pasted over the original journal entries.

Processing Information: Originally processed under the archives identification D.10.21.1.

Acquistion Information: This volume was acquired by the KSU Libraries in the late 1960s as part of the Gilman purchase.

Box 1
Folder -- Contents

1. Journal, 1802-1804
2. Photocopies of printed poems pasted over original journal entries, [1860s?]