Latest from Unshelved

I thought it was time to post a non-diary entry. This is the most recent cartoon from the Unshelved site.

Diary 31.3.1883

Saturday 31

A deal better, we have had porridge to our breakfast they are the best of anything we have had so far, the things are so badly cooked and messed up.

Diary 30.3.1883

Friday 30

Both a little better, we have had the Doctor three times to see us and he has given us something, we have one tin of condensed milk and four eggs allowed every Thursday and Monday for Emmeline, the first thing we longed for when we were getting better of sickness was some of Mortimer’s home fed ham and eggs and some of mother’s tea, but I am very sorry to say we could not get them, we have had a week of sea sickness now, our bones are very sore with being in bed so long, we have only a flock mattress to lie on it is very hard.
We have not been undressed since we left home, but we shall have to change all on Sunday, we thought the bed might be damp so we would sleep in our clothes then we have been so sick since, we have had some dreadful weather we thought on Wednesday night we were going to be drowned, but I am very thankful to say that the Lord was with us and he bought us through this time.
I would not advise anyone to come on a sailing vessel.

Diary 29.3.1883

Thursday 29

Very sick.

Diary 28.3.1883

Wednesday 28

Very sick.

Diary 27.3.1883

Tuesday 27

Sick tried to get up but had to go back to bed. John Edwin (Emily’s husband) is worse than me, I am very thankful to say Emmeline (Emily & John Edwin’s daughter, my Great-grandmother was 1 year, 7 months old at the time) is alright but we cannot attend to her as we ought.
Mrs Nicholson and Mrs Hebdon have been very good to us also some people called Deacon from Shipley, they gave us some jam which was very nice. We’ve now got 2,000 miles on our way.

Emmeline in 1936

Diary 26.3.1883

Monday 26

Sick, in bed all day

.

Diary 25.3.1883

Sunday 25

Sick, in bed all day.

Diary 24.3.1883

Saturday 24

Sick, in bed all day, nothing to eat.

From the Glasgow Herald, Issue 70, Thursday
March 22, 1883

Diary 23.3.1883

Friday morning 23rd March

Breakfast 8am, dry bread and coffee, dinner 1 to 2 soup, beef and potatoes, supper at 5 tea, nothing else to eat, we do not get any tea, it is tea and supper all in one. I never slept in such a bed before it is like a horse box, we are on top of someone else, there is all the single men at one end and the single women at the other and the married in the middle of the vessel.

Clyde Dock

Diary 22.3.1883

Thursday 22nd March

We left Glasgow 10:30 on the morning of the 22nd March 1883 in the steam tug "Hero", had a pleasant ride down the Clyde, we had a good sight of the shipbuilding, it is really a great sight to see ship after ship half-built and full of workmen, we got to ship between 1 and 2 o’clock.
After we got on board we had dinner which was soup and beef and potatoes, enjoyed the beef very fair but soup was nothing but water, tea at 6 o’clock of bread and butter then to bed at 10 o’clock.

Blogging and history

While blogging is a recent event, it is being utilised to contribute to history.

The following story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/05/1198950127422.html
“War still raging, 90 years on, in blog time”
The story of a First World War soldier is keeping people around the world on tenterhooks after his account of life in the trenches was turned into a real-time blog - www.wwar1.blogspot.com
Private Harry Lamin's letters home are being posted as an online diary, with each dispatch published 90 years to the day it was written. Most of his letters are to his elder sister Kate and elder brother Jack. The letters are also supplemented by electronic maps of the campaigns - this is the beauty of the atributes of the Web, which can add to the whole experience.
Now readers of Private Lamin's story are waiting to see whether he survived to see his family or died in battle.
Publishing the bulletins in real time was the brainchild of his grandson, Bill Lamin, who painstakingly pieced together the remnants of his grandfather's wartime correspondence.

I was inspired by Bill’s idea of blogging historical material in real time, especially as this year is 125 years since the diary was written. The diary is a ship-board journal of Emily Ann Foster (some entries were by her husband) sailing from Glasgow to Bundaberg in 1883. The photos and maps are from a variety of sources – family, books and the Net. The spelling and grammar has been left as written. My comments are in brackets.

The author Emily was my Great-great-grandmother. Born in 1856, she lived in Salt Street, Manningham, Bradford, England. She married John Edwin at 23 years, they were both confectioners. Ruth Emmeline was their first child.
The SV Nairnshire, an iron barque, was built in 1877, it measured 204’ by 33’ (all ship info from clydesite). Nairnshire was a county on the northern coastline of Scotland. Each day I intend to add the relevant entry for that day on the day (ignore that the date & time stamp on each of my posts is U.S. time - I'm working on Australian dates, so Emily's Thursday 22nd of March 1883 entry will be posted on Saturday 22nd March 2008) and add this logo to distinguish the diary from other posts.

Photos of the year

“ANZANG nature and landscape the fourth collection photographer of the year”, is edited by Stuart Miller.
ANZANG Nature is an organisation aiming to focus awareness of the natural heritage of the Gondwana bio-region, by encouraging photography of its nature and wilderness.
To this end they conduct an annual Nature and Landscape Photographer of the Year award. This book contains more than 100 of the 2007 competition submissions.
Winner of the Wilderness Landscape section was ‘Bushfire burning on Razorback Ridge’ by Calista Lyon. Winner of the Botanical Subject section was 'Flannel flowers’ by Chris Ross.Highly commended in the Black & White section was ‘Feather duster worm’ by Wayne Osborne. To see the overall winner – borrow the book!

The art of libraries

I was directed to this site a couple of weeks ago.

http://curiousexpeditions.org/2007/09/a_librophiliacs_love_letter_1.html

The site states that "Everyone has some kind of place that makes them feel transported to a magical realm. For some people it’s castles with their noble history and crumbling towers. For others it’s abandoned factories, ivy choked, a sense of foreboding around every corner. For us here at Curious Expeditions, there has always been something about libraries."

For me I guess it's all of the above!
Here I've chosen just a couple of libraries that appeal to me - the art-work, the carved shelves, we don't make libraries like these any longer, more's the pity.

Abbey Library St. Gallen, Switzerland
The Abbey Library dates from1758. This baroque library is gorgeous from floor to ceiling, with a lovely interior design and wonderfully warm woodwork of walnut and cherry. The incredibly ornate vaulted ceiling is typical rococo style. The library and the abbey precinct were included in the UNESCO list of global cultural heritage sites in 1983.

Waldsassen Abbey Library, Bavaria, Germany
The magnificent Abbey at Waldsassen in Germany dates from 1585, again in the baroque style, it has extraordinarywood carvings around the walls. There are 10 more or lesslife-size carved figures, which support the library galleries, and their costumes and features suggest that they are depictions of fools.