Civil War Soldier's Ivory Pocket Diary, identical in Gettysburg Museum

This is another great piece being offered; it is a Civil War Ivory Pocket Diary. It measures 3 ½” x 1 ¾” and has six pages of natural ivory (Monday through Saturday). Being that Sunday was a day of rest, that page was always left out. The inner pages are protected with a thicker ivory outer page covers at front and back with a hinged clasp to keep it closed. The shield on the cover is engraved with “R.C.A.”.

Daily entries were made upon the appropriate flat hard slabs of ivory, usually with a lead pencil and could be easily erased when no longer needed. There is an example of this diary in The Civil War Collector’s Encyclopedia, by Francis Lord and I also used my personal one in my recent book “The Civil War Soldier – His Personal Items” (see pictures). There is also one in the collection of the NPS Gettysburg Battlefield Museum (see pictures).

I’ve had a few of these over the past 25+ years, but now they rarely show up. The ivory has aged beautifully, and this example is in very nice condition. It would go great in a display of a soldier’s personal effects.