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Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Pullman, WA 99164-5610 USA
(509) 335-6691
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Cage 649
Vincent Lafayette Higgins
Diaries, 1892 -1936

The diaries of V. L. Higgins, farmer from Pullman, Washington, were donated to the Washington State University Libraries in 1995 by Suzanne Rucker of Titusville, Florida (MS95-13). The Libraries had previously acquired related items; see Cage 1983. The diaries were processed in November, 1996 by Andrea Sabo.

Number of containers: 4
Linear feet of shelf space: 3
Number of Volumes: 22

BIOGRAPHY

Vincent Lafayette Higgins, b. 1851, was a farmer in the Union Flat region of Whitman County, Washington, about 5 or 6 miles southwest of the city of Pullman. His diaries document daily life and work on a diversified agriculture farm that had wheat growing as its principal activity.

Higgins was born at Burnsvile, North Carolina. In about 1870, he began a series of moves, to Missouri, Arkansas, California, Oregon, and finally, in 1884 to Pullman, Washington Territory. A biographic sketch of Higgins is included in the papers of James E. Lindsey, at the Washington State University Libraries.

ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION

The papers consist of diaries and accounting records of V. L. Higgins, and two notebooks kept by Belle Higgins Rucker, a daughter, while attending college. The diaries and accounts are entered in blank books of various formats. They have been arranged in a chronological order, with the exception of a few large, oversize books which, of necessity, are out of order and at the end of the sequence.

BOX FOLDER DESCRIPTION
1 1 Daily Diary and Accounting Records, Feb., 1892 - May, 1897
1 2 Transcription of Diary and Accounting Records, Feb., 1892 -May, 1897
1 3 Accounting, Breeding, and Crop Records; Newspaper Clippings, 1893-1930
1 4 Diary, May, 1897 - April, 1901
1 5 Diary, April, 1901 - May, 1903
2 6 Diary, May, 1903 - May, 1905
2 7 Diary, June, 1905 - July, 1907; August 3, 1908
2 8 Diary, July, 1907 - July, 1909
2 9 Diary, August, 1909 - November, 1914
2 10 Diary, December, 1914 - June, 1917
2 11 Diary and Notes, August, 1925 - July, 1926
2 12 Diary, August, 1926 - October, 1927
3 13 Diary, September, 1928 - June, 1930
3 14 Diary, February 25, 1930 - October, 1933
3 15 Diary, July, 1930 - October, 1933
3 16 Diary, December, 1931 - October, 1932
3 17 Diary, October, 1933 - March, 1936
3 18 Newspaper Clippings, Pamphlets, Letters, 1917 - 1926
3 19 Belle Higgins, W.S.C. 1908 - 1909, Physics Laboratory Experiment Notebook
3 20 Belle Higgins, W.S.C. 1908 - 1909, Laboratory Manual of Elementary Physics
4 21 Oversize Diary and Accounting Records, 1916 - 1930
4 22 Oversize Diary, July, 1917 - July, 1925