Marion ("Minnie") Boyd Allen , was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 23, 1862. She was the daughter of Stillman Boyd Allen (1830-1891), a lawyer, and Harriet Smith (Seaward) Allen (1831-1922). Minnie studied at the art school of the Boston Museum of Fine Art with Tarbell and Benson, and became a prominent painter, winning many prizes in the 1910s to the 1930s. At the age of 67, she "braved the wild" to paint the Grand Canyon. On March 6,1905, she married William Augustus Allen (1842-1911) in Boston, Massachusetts. She died on December 28,1941.
This diary, for the period June 15, 1875 to December 24, 1876, was kept while Minnie resided in Boston with her parents and brother. The diary, which begins with the last day of school before the summer three-month break when Minnie was twelve-years-old and ends the day before Christmas when Minnie was fourteen-years-old, is a record of her daily activities. Those activities included writing in her journal; going to school, church, Sunday school, parties, plays, the circus, baseball games, and the dentist; reading, being read to, and reading aloud to others; knitting, drawing, sketching, painting, and inking; having her picture taken; making molasses candy, peppermints, enigmas, poetry, jack o'lanterns, valentines, and Christmas presents; dancing; singing; riding; taking piano lessons; collecting mosses, rocks, birds eggs, and wood; playing card games such as pitch, euchre, sancho pedro, bezique, whist, and solitaire; and playing other games such as checkers, chess, backgammon, billiards, croquet, flower, consequences, I spy, tic tac toe, cat's cradle, hide and go seek, last look, last tag, jump rope, gossip, criticism, traveller, jackstraws, marbles, tops, forfeits, post office, magic music, spin the cover, menagerie, bowling, heads and tails, charades, and stagecoach.
There are mentions of holidays and special celebrations such as Fourth of July (where she fired some crackers and torpedoes and shot an air-gun), her birthday, Thanksgiving (where she, along with others, put on the play Cinderella), Christmas, and April Fool's Day. There are mentions of sickness and death, visits made and received, letters received and written, and the weather. There are many mentions of her family, extended family, and friends.
Minnie spent a lot of time at "Hillside" (most likely her grandparents Seaward's place in Melrose, Mass.) where she had a little room of her own, with a fireplace, and spent a lot of time reading, playing card games, and playing with Katie, Milly, Bertie, and Annie, among others. Minnie received a lot of attention from her brother Will. She helped him pack up and set up his college room at Harvard, while he gave her French and natural history lessons, took her for drives, and played with her when she was not feeling well. Each year Minnie travelled with her family to a hotel at Wolfeboro, N.H. (on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee) for the months of July and August. However, in 1876, Minnie went first to a camp on Umbagog Lake on the Maine-New Hampshire border before travelling to Wolfeboro. At Wolfeboro, she went fishing, had swimming and rowing lessons, yachted, hiked and climbed, and played games. There is mention of visiting a fortune-teller (August 14, 1875). From May 23 through May 28, 1876, Minnie travelled with her family to Philadelphia, Pa., to visit the Centennial Exposition. Her brother, along with his friend Fred, travelled to Europe from June 24 through September 17, 1876, and returned with presents for her, including "... a dear little model of a gondola in silver, a crane ... an ivory pin ... and some pictures ..." The entries for June 17, July 5, November 25, and December 25,1875, as well as July 4, 1876, are illustrated. The diary also contains some minor illustrations throughout.