UVA History of Childhood, Parenting, and Family Building-addition 90 Lydia Ann Parsons commonplace book

Content Description

This collection contains a personal commonplace book compiled at age sixteen by Ann Lydia Parsons (b. 1830), containing original poetry and prose musings on friendship, loss, and romance. Early poems including The Watchman and The Meeting of Ships use movement through city streets and across oceans as metaphors for instability and human connection. Later poems such as Farewell, The Bridal Dirge, and The Broken Heart focus on loss, particularly as experienced by young women. The rear of the book contains a copied extract from The Language of Flowers, a popular guide to communicating messages through the arrangement of bouquets. The book is dated 1846 on the pastedown. Parsons married in 1848, two years after the creation of her commonplace book.

Acquisition Type

Purchase

Provenance

Purchased from Magnolia Rare Books, 4 March 2026.

Language of Description

English

Script of Description

Latin

Restrictions Apply

No

Use Restrictions

The Library believes that all or nearly all material in this collection is likely to be in the public domain, free of copyright restrictions. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials. NoC-US: No Copyright - United States: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/