Private manuscript journal of Noyes Stanton Palmer (1826-1891) of Westerly, Rhode Island and Stonington, Connecticut, with earlier entries providing private reflections and participation in politics and local reform movements, and an account of an 1858 business trip through the upper Midwest. 77 pages in total, in quarter leather journal with marbled boards, the two separate journals entered dos-a-dos style, with central pages blank. Pages 7.35" x 6".
The first portion consists of Palmer's life in Westerly, Rhode Island, and Stonington Connecticut, August 4, 1850 - December 17, 1855. 58 complete pages, with some additional partial pages and margins of mostly excised pages. The journal provides details about local affairs, such as elections and local council meetings, including a school meeting in Mystic; attending a trial for alleged bank robbery; discussions of reform movements; religious services; a comic essay regarding his own battles with fighting "California Fever", and an unusual discussion of mediating a conflict in his store between a white and African American customer, with an unusually detailed reflection on the pervasiveness of racism and his own sympathy for African Americans and the oppressed in general.
The second portion is Palmer's travel journal recorded during business trip from Stonington through western New York, Ohio, Illinois, before leaving off in Burlington, Iowa after having just crossed the Mississippi. 19 pages. December 3, 1857 - June 20, 1858. Most detailed entries focus on his time through Ohio and the towns he stops at attempting to sell commercial insurance, recording his impressions of the towns, primarily related to their industry, ethnic, and religious character, including a few visits to the theater, social visits to fellow Yankees who had settlers of Ohio, including the daughters of scientist John Lee Comstock.
