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Last modified: October 20, 2009
© 2009 University of Delaware Library
Identification: MSS 097, Item 081
Creator: Creator unknown.
Title: Philadelphia weather diary
Inclusive Dates: 1836 June 1–1842 July 31
Extent: 1 v. (124 p.) ; 20 cm.
Abstract: This weather diary kept by an unknown resident of Phildelphia, Pennsylvania, contains daily entries, June 1, 1836, to July 31, 1842, recording the temperature and wind direction along with brief comments on the weather. There are monthly rain measurements for 1825 through 1842 recorded "as per gauge kept at the Pennsylvania Hospital" as well as newsclippings documenthing especially severe weather events.
Language: Materials entirely in English.
MSS 097, Item 081, Philadelphia weather diary, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.
Item 081: Shelved in SPEC MSS 097
Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library / Newark, Delaware 19717-5267 / Phone: 302-831-2229 / Fax: 302-831-6003 / URL: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/
Purchased, 1964.
Processed and encoded by Evan Echols, February 2009.
The collection is open for research.
Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, http://www.lib.udel.edu/cgi-bin/askspec.cgi
The unknown author of this diary lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the period 1836 to 1842 and made weather observations from a location in the vicinity of 4th and Market streets.
Sources:
Biographical information dervived from the collection.
This weather diary kept by an unknown resident of Phildelphia, Pennsylvania, contains daily entries, June 1, 1836, to July 31, 1842, recording the temperature and wind direction along with brief comments on the weather. There are monthly rain measurements for 1825 through 1842 recorded "as per gauge kept at the Pennsylvania Hospital" as well as newsclippings documenthing especially severe weather events.
The daily entries in the bound, 124-page diary are arranged in the form of a chart recording, from left to right, the month, day of the month, day of the week, temperature readings at 9 am, 12 pm, and 3 pm, brief comments on the weather, and wind direction. After 1838, wind direction is recorded in its own column as opposed to being part of the weather commentary. After the entries end in 1842, there is a chart recording the rainfall in inches for each month of the years 1825 through 1842. The readings were obtained from the rain gauge kept at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. The back of the book contains news clippings dating from January 28, 1839, pasted onto the pages and laid into the diary documenting a particularly violent and destructive storm . There is also an entry dated July 13, 1841, copied from a book kept by a Josiah Coates and describing a thunderstorm in which there were lightning strike fatalities.
