Hazel Diamond Macy diaries

The Hazel Diamond Macy diaries, 1855-2012, the bulk of which document the writer’s daily life from 1898-1942. The collection is arranged into three series: Diaries, Manuscripts and Printed Matter, and Photographs.

There are the 166 personal diaries written by Macy. Also included in the collection is a diary written by her husband, Paul Macy, from 1916, which provides an account of their wedding, among other topics. Some diaries are missing covers and pages and must be handled with care. They span topics of social events, family life, education, working, and marriage and children. Macy diaries show that she was very active and social. During her lifetime she witnessed a lot of developments in technology, such as the phonograph, automobile, radio, telephone, moving pictures, airplanes, and cameras, which she notes in her diaries.

In addition to the diaries, there is a scrapbook from the Diamond School of Dancing, including programs, newspaper reviews, and a booklet on ballroom dancing. Please note: some pages of the scrapbook are glued together, and cannot be separated. Also included, is Macy’s granddaughter, Melissa Carr Kupfer’s, graduate thesis (2004), which provides insight into the time-period when her grandmother lived, and intimate details about her grandmother’s life. The correspondence in the collection consists of 3 thank you notes, and a photocopy of a letter from her uncle Jesse Noyes, written during the Civil War.

The papers also consist of 11 stereographs of the Rochester area, including High Falls, and of Niagara Falls, and 38 Pocket Kodak photographs of Macy and family, the Rochester area, and her family farm. There are photocopies of photographs of Macy at age 1, 20 and 30, and of her husband, Paul.