Box #3, Volume 7, May 24, 1898-April 12, 1900 ; Samuel W. Davis papers, 1820-1914.

The collection includes diaries, a book of sermons, correspondence, essays, and other sundry items. The bulk of these papers are Samuel Davis' diaries that cover the years 1868 to 1914 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and the Pennsylvania towns and cities of Dale City (Meyersdale), Uniontown, Belle Vernon, Mt. Pleasant, Homestead, McKeesport, Pittsburgh, and Wilkinsburg. Samuel Davis recorded entries, often lengthy, nearly every day. Davis often pasted items of note in the books including newsclippings, correspondence, publications, photographs, and other items. Davis' diaries are primarily spiritual in tone as he fears often for the state of his faith and prays incessantly for the salvation of his soul. Davis often went beyond the mere personal to explore the meaning of larger issues in nineteenth century life, such as the death of several of his children, or natural and man-made disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and train wrecks. Davis wrote detailed descriptions of his travels to various temperance conventions, his 1872 honeymoon with his new wife, Mary Catherine Stone Davis, when he witnessed the devastation wreaked by the Chicago fire the year before, Philadelphia, Europe and the Middle East, Washington, D. C., and Boston. However, descriptions of the towns in which Davis lived and worked are lacking; there is no mention of the kinds of social or economic interaction that went on in these areas, aside from church activities. The diaries also contain detailed descriptions of the Methodist ministers conferences held yearly in Pittsburgh, which are quite useful for understanding and determining issues surrounding religion in the Pittsburgh area at the turn of the century. Furthermore, the diaries kept while Davis was affiliated with the Coke Mission provide very strong documentation of the Methodist Church's efforts to assist the recent immigrants in the Fayette County mining towns. Mary Davis's diary is not as comprehensive as her husband's diaries but documents events in her life between 1876 and 1884, ...