History in a List

An Inventory of the Estate of Clary Eve Deceased

1805

Boone County Will Book A

One mulatto boy named Reuben $300.00
Eight volumes of the History of Clarissa Harlowe $ 6.00
Three ditto of Domestic Encyclopedia $ 6.00
Two ditto of Sheridan's Dictionary $ 5.00
One Book, to wit, Quincy's Lexicon improved $ 2.50
One Ditto Phytologia $ 2.00
One Ditto Philosophy $ 1.50
One Ditto Simpson's Euclid $ 1.50
One Ditto Botanic Garden $ 1.50
One Ditto Darwin's Temple of Nature $ 1.50
One Ditto Brigg's Cookery $ 1.25
One Ditto Polite Education $ 1.25
One Ditto Paine's writings $ 1.00
One Ditto Goldsmith's Greece $ 1.00
One Ditto Illiad of Homer $ 0.75
One Ditto Seneca's Morals $ 0.75
One Ditto Entick's Dictionary $ 0.75
Four Ditto $ 1.75
Four Ditto $2; Six Ditto $2.50 $ 4.50
Six Ditto $2; Ten Ditto $1.25 $ 3.25
One Musick Ditto $ .50
Six Quire lettering paper $ 1.50
Seventeen Ditto Letter Ditto $ 3.00
One pair Candlesticks $ 2.50
Five drinking glasses $ 1.25

History is where you find it. Anything that exists in the present may be the occasion of an historical research. I have posted a copy of this list on the Annals of Boone County (KY), and you can find it here: Estate Inventory of Clarissa Kirtley Eve. As a writer and researcher my challenge is to make this list come alive in a way that the reader can feel its significance. This can be done by finding out as much as possible about each item on the list, and thinking about how the owner of the items felt about them.

To get an idea of how this can be done examine an online edition of her Cook Book. (This is the 1788 edition, and hers was printed in 1792; but the two volumes are probably very similar. You may download and save this book if you are interested.)

Now you are in a position to see if what I wrote brings the list to life or not. My essay is entitled: Notes on an Inventory of the Books of Clarissa Kirtley Eve, 1805. This seems to be the largest library in early Boone County.

I would be glad to hear the remarks of any reader who will reply to this

Archival Quality Communication

James Duvall, M. A.
Boone County Public Library
Boone County, Kentucky