This page highlights items of lay interest from the collection.   All of these works are published for the first time in this collection.

• Small-pox Outbreak in Northern Virginia, 1792  A manuscript showing reactions of Martha Paige to an outbreak of small pox in 1792.
• Diary of a Grand Tour of Europe and the Middle East, 1850-1852, 3 vols. A major work by Maria Kittredge Degen.
• Bessie Mattern Diary, 1892-1910 details the social life of Bessie Mattern from age 14 to 32 in Pennsylvania.
• Mary Josephine Lyon's Diary 1899 describes a trip through Italy in 1899.
• Diary of a European Tour, May-July 1914, Postcards, fashion clippings and other ephemera illustrate this travel account of a trip to France, England and Scotland just before World War I.
• My Trip Abroad, 1914  World War I interrupted Ruth Pike's tour of Europe, leaving her stranded in Switzerland.
• Julia Heller's Boyfriend Book (1932)   A diary of dates, social engagements and ratings of boyfriend from a teenager in Pennsylvania in 1932.
• Evelyn Jackson Diary, 1933 A young black school girl describes school work, friends, religious observances and her resolutions for the year.
• Letters of Mary and Jasper Muglia, 1942-1945.  Letters from Mary in New Jersey to Jasper in service during World War II.
• Ship Log Honduras-Guatemala Cruise, 1954  A scrapbook account of Edna May and her husband's trip to Central America in 1954.