Ben Buckhurst Chronicle, 1862-1867

Summary

Creator:
Powell, Alice.
Abstract:
33 issues of a monthly manuscript of family news and drawings from the Powell family of Kent, England. "Ben Buckhurst" refers to Buckhurst Hill, where the family lived, "ben" being the Scottish word for hill or mountain.
Extent:
33 issues
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Ben Buckhurst Chronicle,

Background

Scope and content:

The Ben Buckhurst Chronicle collection consists of 33 issues of the monthly family newsletter. In addition to documenting family visits, travel departures, births, and marriages, much of it in verse form, the Chronicle offers accounts of balls, musical programs, church events, and athletic competitions including races, croquet, and cricket matches. Acrostics, riddles, and contents are interspersed with compositions on such widely diverse topics as mermaids and carbon. Often droll and always charming, The Ben Buckhurst Chronicle not only illustrates the maturation of an enterprising, talented, and energetic young woman, but also offers a glimpse into 19th century upper class family structure and social life.

Issues in the collection span May to October 1862 and September 1864 to May 1866, with an odd printed number dated March 31, 1867.

Biographical / historical:

The Powells were a Victorian country family of Kent, England. Brothers David, Baden, and James Powell between them had eight sons, all of whom in turn had large families. Baden was an Oxford professor of geometry and authority on radiation; his son Robert became the first Baron Baden-Powell of Gilway and founder of the Boy Scouts. Nathaniel Powell and his wife Agnes lived at Buckhurst Hill together with their two sons and seven daughters.

Nathaniel and Agnes' eldest daughter, Alice, began The Ben Buckhurst Chronicle as a monthly four-page quarto-size manuscript of family news and drawings. Later issues feature increasingly elaborate illustrations, some in color, with eight small folio pages on blue paper. At a cost of sixpence to read the single copy of the manuscript, the periodical was circulated among its subscribers by mail, and returned to the editor, often with comments on the blank leaves or in the margins. The subscribers, many of whom were also contributors, were cousins or other relatives, and appear never to have exceeded eight or nine in number.

Arrangement:

Issues are in chronological order, in a slipcase.

Access and use

Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Terms of access:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Preferred citation:

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Ben Buckhurst Chronicle,

Location of this collection:
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries
Bird Library, Room 600
Syracuse, NY 13244, United States
Link to repository site
Contact:
315.443.2697
scrc@syr.edu