Ned Beck's Diary

Another school year is coming to a close in Holton, Kansas. Final exams; class picnics; summer baseball teams forming--it could be May 2009--but 11 year old Ned Beck wrote this diary in 1880. This podcast features Ned's diary entries during late May. Moses and Mary Beck are enlarging their home to accomodate their full household: Ned, or Edward, their oldest son, his younger brother William, who is 7, and two daughters: Mattie, 9, and Clara, 3. In addition, they have a 17-year-old servant named Ida Walton living with them and two young male boarders, Charles "Ed" Rose and Fred Brown. Ned's father ran a drug store and published the Holton newspaper, The Recorder. Ned and his younger brother, Will, often helped out in their father's businesses, in addition to doing farm chores. Hear about the activities that filled Ned's summer days.