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Thanks for letter, apology for not answering sooner. You know my daughter my misfortune, to be entirely without education, else your letters should never remain a week unanswered. Sends family news, plans to visit in the coming summer if possible.

Susan Barnum kept this notebook while attending Mount Holyoke Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She attended the Seminary for just one year, from 1883-1884. Her notes mostly concern literature and poetry, including writings on Milton, Chaucer, Wordsworth and Shakespeare. One half of the notebook appears to be assignments or directions for study, written front to back within the volume. In one entry, Barnum writes "Milton / Story of Milton's life. Name his chief poems, when written? To what department of poetry does each belong. Character of his sonnets..." The other half, written upside down, back to front, includes essays and class notes. Some topics include "Parallel Structure of L'Allergo", "Chaucers Tomb", and "Historical importance of Milton's poetry". This school book is an excellent glimpse into the kind of education some women were receiving in the late 19th century.