Diary of the Reverend Samuel Tupper
Date
1865 May 24
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
Abstract
Personal diary of the Reverend Samuel Tupper , a relief worker for the U.S. Christian Commission, a Union relief organization during the Civil War. The diary includes the Commission's regulations.
Description
Reverend Samuel Tupper's American Civil War diary documents his volunteer relief work with the U. S. Christian Commission in May and June, 1865. The log book was issued by the Commission and provided delegates with eighteen printed pages of regulations for discharging their duties, blank space to record their daily work, and memoranda pages to detail names of soldiers assisted.
Tupper left Worcester, Massachusetts, and began his duties near Alexandria, Virginia, where he ministered to Union soldiers. He recorded many daily diary entries including information about sermons, duties, and post-war conditions for civilians. He also recorded about a dozen names of soldiers and units with which he had worked.
The manuscript is bound in leather. "U. S. Christian Commission" is embossed in gold on the front cover. The front cover and the first three signatures are loose and the spine is broken. The first eighteen pages are printed text with organizational information about the U.S. Christian Commission, with instructions to its delegates. The remaining 110 pages have printed headings and lines. Approximately ninety-five pages are filled with autograph notes, primarily in ink.
Keywords
United States Christian Commission, Alexandria (Va.), Chaplains, Diaries
Citation
MSS 0097, Item 0110, Diary of the Reverend Samuel Tupper, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.