Guide to the Gertrude McGee Diary MC333

Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: University of California, Davis Library, Dept. of Special Collections

Title: Gertrude McGee Diary

Creator: McGee, Gertrude

Identifier/Call Number: MC333

Physical Description: 1 item Composition book measuring 8 x 7 inches and comprised of 54 handwritten pages.

Date (inclusive): 1900-1901

Abstract: Handwritten journal documenting a year in the life of 16-year-old Gertrude (Gertie) McGee.

Physical Location: Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.

Gertrude (Gertie) McGee was a teenager living in Sonoma and San Rafael between 1900 and 1901.

Handwritten journal documenting a year in the life of 16-year-old Gertrude (Gertie) McGee. Following the death of her father, Gertie moves from her birthplace of Tennessee with her mother Fannie and younger brother Russell to Sonoma, California. There, they share a household with her Aunt Mattie, Uncle Thomas and younger cousin John. Very quickly, readers can detect the importance of the family support system. Thomas, a salesman, appears to be gone much of the time; and as compensation for boarding with her family, Fannie becomes a co-partner with Mattie in managing the children and the household despite her own chronic illness. The only young woman in the house, Gertie is pulled between sharing childish outdoor adventures with Russell, John, and the other neighborhood children (such as eating nuts and climbing trees at the "camp" they have set up by the creek) and meeting the expectations of womanhood set upon her by Fannie and Mattie (such as assisting with cooking and cleaning). A reader, Gertie often laments her failure to live up to the standard set by heroines in such books as Stepping Heavenward and Elsie Dinsmore, commenting of her own behavior "that wasn't very ladylike." School and friendships are the areas where Gertie ultimately thrives. She regularly comments on missing school during vacations and being glad to come back; she notes enjoyment of English, History, and Bookkeeping, calling her arrival to high school "lovely." And she is surrounded by young women, including her best friends Edna and Nellie, to whom declares love and devotion. Gertie even notes early on -- with a bit of obviously echoed judgment from adults around her -- about a role model very different to what her own mother likely had: "Miss Cecelia Granice, who goes to school at Berkeley and thinks herself all of it."

As the year goes on, Gertie matures in noticeable ways. She increasingly observes turns of phrase that she finds elegant among adults and notes them for future use; she leaves behind rabbit chasing with the little boys instead to attend orchestra performances at Union Hall, to ride her bicycle (which she laments is older than the other girls' and outdated) to visit with other women and hear town news, and practice flirting with some of the local men (one of whom she reports "thinks I am a little girl and don't know that he was flirting; flirting is just as natural to him as falling off a log"). Amidst these changes, she discovers that her mother will be relocating her immediate family to San Rafael. Gertie's grief further shows her growth. Not only does she mourn Sonoma and leaving a land that she feels tied to, but she fears severing ties with her friends and experiencing a major accomplishment -- her graduation -- at an unfamiliar school. "The place I had planned to live in should be left in so short a time! I expected to graduate from this school, I had even in idle moments planned how I should look on that night...I am going to leave my friends for new ones. Will they be as true? Will I love them as well?...I am going to leave Sonoma with all the scenes that I love, the green mountains where the sun and shadows make so many shades." Indeed, on first arriving to life in the city, she reports on the cultural differences she faces. "San Rafael, with all its style and its people who smile at you as if there was a block of ice between you," compared with "Sonoma where every one speaks to every one else and is your true friend." Unsurprisingly, finding that she likes and thrives in her new school -- and can form a network of female friends while maintaining the bonds with Nellie and Edna through post -- leads her to acclimate quickly. Indeed, she would remain in San Rafael, marrying stationery store owner Lawrence Moore.

[Description provided by Whitmore Books]

Collection is open for research.

Liz Phillips created this finding aid with information supplied by Whitmore Books.

Purchased from Whitmore Books, 2021.

[Identification of item], Gertrude McGee Diary, MC333, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.