The three Lyman Diaries chronicle Jonathan F. Lyman's experiences as a youth in San Jose, Calif.; as a student at the University of the Pacific (1890-1892); and, as a young husband working as a carpenter in Stockton, Calif. (1895-1897).

Jonathan F. Lyman (b. 1871) grew up in San Jose (Calif.) where he worked as a janitor, soda jerk, clerk and carpenter while briefly enrolled as a pre-ministerial student at the University of the Pacific (1890-92). Following his marriage to Belle Moyle, a UOP Academy student (1893), Lyman quit school and subsequently moved to Stockton (1895) where he worked as a carpenter until about 1899. He, his, wife, and his five children were living in San Mateo in 1900. The 1910 census indicates that his wife is a widow living in Turlock.

Collection is open for research.