Collection Description

The diaries of Sarah Frances Eaton Cooke illustrate the social conditions and domestic life of Sarah and her family in North Brookfield, Worcester County, Mass. This includes births, deaths, and marriages of family and neighbors. The family's school and church activities, sewing, theater-going, and interactions with relatives and neighbors are also illustrated. Sarah and her family regularly traveled by train to Boston, Providence, Worcester, Leicester, Springfield, Braintree, Groton, and Spencer. The Cooke family as a whole was also musically inclined, and many of Sarah's diaries include references to activities such as Sarah teaching piano and organ lessons, her husband John S. Cooke's involvement in singing groups, and the family participating in church choir rehearsals. Sarah mentions attending services at several churches, including Union Church, the First Congregational Church, and Church of the Messiah. Additionally, the diaries cover the family's involvement in several organizations, including the Union Temperance Society; the Christian Endeavor Society; and the Appleton program, an organization that provided newsletters regarding upcoming theatrical events; and John was a member of the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic). Sarah also writes about the effects of tuberculosis, scarlet fever, and diphtheria on her family and neighbors. In Sarah's 1914 diary, there are entries that mention World War I, but she primarily writes about "The Brookfield School for Girls," an open-air school founded by her two daughters, Helen and Marion Cooke.

The collection also includes an 1885 diary written by Sarah Cooke's daughter, Helen F. Cooke, as well as miscellaneous notes and newspaper clippings removed from diary pockets.