(To hear this episode, scroll to the bottom)
In this episode, we share three stories from three diaries. In the first, you will hear about a young school teacher who wrote out her idea of “The Basic Needs Of Every Life”. She beat Abraham Maslow and his “Hierarchy of Needs” by twenty years, as her ideas and his are very similar. Next, we visit the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. We share diary entries by a 21 year old man, who had a very unique job at the fair. His very first entry mentioned “danger from fire” and was written months before a tragic fire that killed 12 Firefighters in full view of fair goers. The final diary for this episode was written by a soldier in the Spanish American War of 1898. He transcribed two newspaper articles in his diary regarding a “dastard” who committed a crime “worse than cold blooded murder”.
- MARY SCHENCK SHERK’S 1924 DIARY
2. KREADY’S “CHAIR PUSHERS” 1893 DIARY
“The career of the chair pushers as well as the Columbian guards, which may not all be “newspaper stories.” The lame and the lazy in visiting the Fair were as well provided for as the energetic athlete who stalked on without impediments of any kind. The principal tent of the chair pushers was near the Mech’s Building so that we passed it two or three times a day on our way to our rendezvous and many a time I longed for a snap-shot at the groups that trundled by, sometimes two or three little children snuggled together and vastly enjoying their novel trip in the wheeled chair.”
The above page is one from my 1893 World’s Fair Diary. It’s her take on the “Chair Pushers.” Then the following pictures and photos are either shared from different websites or shared from the Chicago World’s Fair diary in my private collection.
Ferris Wheel and Administration Building and Grand Court – 1893 Chicago World’s Fair – Wikipedia.
3. Crime of a Dastard – 1898 Diary
Example Pages of Private Ernest Wesche Jr.’s 1898 Diary.
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Diary Discoveries 