Wiggin, James Henry (1836-1900). Diary, 1865

This collection consists of a diary belonging to James Henry Wiggin, a Unitarian minister and editor.

James Henry Wiggin (1836-1900) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Dwight Grammar School and traveled to several parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He later graduated from the Meadville Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, and was ordained as a Unitarian minister in 1862. Over the course of his ministry, he preached at a succession of Unitarian pulpits. Believing that his opinions had grown too radical, and did not "justify a longer continuance in his chosen work" (Charles E. Wiggin, 1813-1888, p. 137), Wiggin left the church in 1880 and devoted the remainder of his life to musical and literary criticism, editing, proofreading, and indexing.

This collection contains a 110-page diary belonging to James Henry Wiggin, who wrote an entry for each day of 1865. Entries include notes on parish duties, calls, weather, dinner engagements, appointments, travels, and books read. Wiggin routinely clipped items from newspapers and pasted them into his diary. Clippings include announcements of his Sunday sermon topics and lectures on his travels, as well as programs of plays that he attended. Wiggin also recorded on social and political issues, such as temperance, the end of the Civil War (page 35) and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (page 36). Also included is a pamphlet for the Order of Services at the Funeral Obsequies of Abraham Lincoln, held at City Hall in Lawrence, Massachusetts, during which Wiggin preached.

The Library purchased this diary in 2015.