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Content warning: Gasn’s diary refers to students in special education classes in derogatory terms.

These four diaries describe the lives and activities of women at the New Jersey State Normal School. They also document their first teaching experiences from the school’s earliest days in 1855 to 1920, when the enrollment and curriculum had significantly expanded and the school would soon become a college.

It is not known whether or not, or where, Ida Totten might have attended a Normal School or received teacher training, but in the fall term of 1883, she began a diary to record her first experience of teaching in Greenville (now called Greendell) School, in Sussex County. She described her frustrations with named children in her class and the challenges of disciplining them, as well as her activities at home on the weekends including attending temperance meetings and church. The final pages of the diary are from May 1884 and contain notes from Page’s Theory and Practice of Teaching, so perhaps she was continuing her teaching education, or had not yet graduated (if she did).

The format of Reba Gasn’s diary has two years on a single page: entries for 1919 are written on the top of the page, and 1920 is on the bottom; the two years are often also delineated by black and blue ink. She documented her day-to-day life in school, her hobbies, social life, meals enjoyed (and not), and activities with family and friends on breaks at home near the shore. She also writes of anti-semitism she experienced in Trenton, as well as her many illnesses.

Diary of Ida Totten Hunt

It is not known whether or not, or where, Ida Totten might have attended a Normal School or received teacher training, but in the fall term of 1883, she began a diary to record her first experience of teaching in Greenville (now called Greendell) School, in Sussex County. She described her frustrations with named children in her class and the challenges of disciplining them, as well as her activities at home on the weekends including attending temperance meetings and church. The final pages of the diary are from May 1884 and contain notes from Page’s Theory and Practice of Teaching, so perhaps she was continuing her teaching education, or had not yet graduated (if she did).
Some of the names mentioned in the diary include: Catherine or Kate Ayers Rutan, Sarah Grace Batley Coleman, Louis Berry, Elsie F. Howell, Abraham or Abram Hubert, Rosie Kinney, Irving Labar, Anna or Annie Longcor, Cora Longcor, Daniel Longcor, William K. Longcor, Stella R. Morris Emmans, Mr. and Mrs. Redding, J. Stackhouse, Annie Stackhouse, Benton Stackhouse, Cassius Stackhouse, Albert Stang, Anson Stang, William Stang, Dr. Sidney Brian Straley, Benjamin Totten, and Jacob or Jake Wolf.

Hunt, Ida Totten, 1861-1907
1 · Folder · 1855 - 1856
Part of New Jersey State Normal School Diaries Collection

The handwritten diary of Mary Jane Sergeant (Larison) contains a series of journal entries from 1855-1856 describing her experiences and studies while attending the New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton, New Jersey. The diary encompasses the first term of the Normal School and provides a glimpse into the earliest days of its opening years, highlighting the variety of subjects studied including Latin, arithmetic, climatology and cartography and reflecting theory and practice in teachers' colleges in the mid-19th century. Some entries in the latter half of the diary appear out of chronological order. The diary makes mention of the laying of the cornerstone of the first permanent building at the Normal School, the first Principal Willian Phelps, as well as several instructional texts for teachers' education of the period.

Larison, Mary Jane Sergeant, 1837-1917
Diary of Reba Gasn
10 · Folder · 1919-1920
Part of New Jersey State Normal School Diaries Collection

Content warning: Gasn’s diary refers to students in special education classes in derogatory terms.

The format of Reba Gasn’s diary has two years on a single page: entries for 1919 are written on the top of the page, and 1920 is on the bottom; the two years are often also delineated by black and blue ink. She documented her day-to-day life in school, her hobbies, social life, meals enjoyed (and not), and activities with family and friends on breaks at home near the shore. She also writes of anti-semitism she experienced in Trenton, as well as her many illnesses.

Gasn, Reba, 1899-1989
TCNJ008 · Collection · 1855-2024

Content warning: Gasn’s diary refers to students in special education classes in derogatory terms.

These four diaries describe the lives and activities of women at the New Jersey State Normal School. They also document their first teaching experiences from the school’s earliest days in 1855 to 1920, when the enrollment and curriculum had significantly expanded and the school would soon become a college.

It is not known whether or not, or where, Ida Totten might have attended a Normal School or received teacher training, but in the fall term of 1883, she began a diary to record her first experience of teaching in Greenville (now called Greendell) School, in Sussex County. She described her frustrations with named children in her class and the challenges of disciplining them, as well as her activities at home on the weekends including attending temperance meetings and church. The final pages of the diary are from May 1884 and contain notes from Page’s Theory and Practice of Teaching, so perhaps she was continuing her teaching education, or had not yet graduated (if she did).

The format of Reba Gasn’s diary has two years on a single page: entries for 1919 are written on the top of the page, and 1920 is on the bottom; the two years are often also delineated by black and blue ink. She documented her day-to-day life in school, her hobbies, social life, meals enjoyed (and not), and activities with family and friends on breaks at home near the shore. She also writes of anti-semitism she experienced in Trenton, as well as her many illnesses.

The diary of Mary Jane Sergeant Larison has a typewritten transcription from 1955 (at the time of the school’s Centennial) and is currently being re-transcribed in digital format. The transcript of the diary of Rosena Craig Foster Whitlock was written and annotated by her granddaughter Susan Whitlock in 2008. Transcripts of the Totten and Gasn diaries will be available in the coming years.

Larison, Mary Jane Sergeant, 1837-1917

Transcript of diary of Ida Totten Hunt, transcribed by Allison Belcher in 2024.
It is not known whether or not, or where, Ida Totten might have attended a Normal School or received teacher training, but in the fall term of 1883, she began a diary to record her first experience of teaching in Greenville (now called Greendell) School, in Sussex County. She described her frustrations with named children in her class and the challenges of disciplining them, as well as her activities at home on the weekends including attending temperance meetings and church. The final pages of the diary are from May 1884 and contain notes from Page’s Theory and Practice of Teaching, so perhaps she was continuing her teaching education, or had not yet graduated (if she did).
Some of the names mentioned in the diary include: Catherine or Kate Ayers Rutan, Sarah Grace Batley Coleman, Louis Berry, Elsie F. Howell, Abraham or Abram Hubert, Rosie Kinney, Irving Labar, Anna or Annie Longcor, Cora Longcor, Daniel Longcor, William K. Longcor, Stella R. Morris Emmans, Mr. and Mrs. Redding, J. Stackhouse, Annie Stackhouse, Benton Stackhouse, Cassius Stackhouse, Albert Stang, Anson Stang, William Stang, Dr. Sidney Brian Straley, Benjamin Totten, and Jacob or Jake Wolf.