Mary Francis Alderton diaries

Mary Francis maintains short daily entries in these diaries primarily of her activities and purchases. Her activities consist of housework, gardening, sewing, canning, baking, reading the Bible or the newspaper (she received a Tiffin newspaper while residing in Saginaw), and attending church and meetings of various women's groups, e.g., Ladies Aid, Women's Missionary Society (both within the Methodist Church), and the local Women's Christian Temperance Union. Listed with the description of her activities are purchases made and other monies spent; e.g., groceries, clothing, rent, dues, and church offerings. Mary Francis appears quite meticulous with her entries, providing details on specific purchases made and housework accomplished, and even chastising herself when failing to write the daily entries because of ill health.

Through the diaries one learns that Archie works for his brother, G. A. Alderton, as a bookkeeper in G. A.'s wholesale store; that Mary Francis and Archie had a daughter, Ellen, who died at a young age; and that Mary Francis is unhappy living in Saginaw--an almost constant unhappiness brought on by loneliness, fear of the city, worry about their financial condition, and anger at not being socially accepted by Archie's relatives. In addition, she and Archie have marital problems resulting from Archie's verbal and physical abuses of Mary Francis and her suspicions that Archie is committing adultery. Also Mary Francis suffers from many ailments including fevers, constipation, head colds and sore throats, inflamed tonsils, rheumatism and general pains of the heart, stomach, lungs, kidneys, and feet. Some of these ailments may be psychosomatic as, according to the diaries, she takes both medication and undergoes shock treatment by a series of doctors.

These diaries, covering a sixteen-year period in Mary Francis' life, provide an excellent case study of the mind of a troubled woman during the early years of the twentieth century. The diaries provide a sound source for a psychological approach to the study of a particular time period in history. The first two diaries are complete and well organized. However, the latter two are sporadic and sometimes incoherent and thus pose some difficulties for the researcher.