Scope and Content Note
The diaries of Henry Ives (born 1830) span the years 1857-1914. The diaries are in annual volumes with spaces for daily entries. Ives includes some newspaper clippings and records major national events, but most entries report the news and daily life in Ware, Massachusetts (1857-1867), and New Milford, Connecticut (1867-1914), where he worked as a bank cashier. Events described include marriages, deaths, accidents, fires, family events, travels of friends and neighbors, and especially the activities of his churches, the East Congregational Church (Ware, Mass.), the First Congregational Church (New Milford, Conn.), and other local Protestant churches. Ives was deeply involved in his church, serving as a Sunday school teacher among other duties. Also of interest is the detailed accounting at the end of each volume that records cash payments for household goods for the year.