We've chosen to display the 1815 almanac (pictured here) closed, so that the front cover is visible. You likely recognize the image, as it is a variation of the Great Seal of the United States. While not identical to the official seal, the image shows a stylized version of an eagle with wings outstretched, a bundle of arrows and olive branch in its talons, and a shield with the American flag. From its beak is a scroll with the motto “E pluribus unum” which translates to “Out of many, one.” In keeping with the patriotic theme, the almanac identifies the year 1815 as “thirty-ninth of the Independence of the United States of America” which is the calculation of how many years had passed since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Within the pages, The New-England Almanack provides much the same information as other 18th and 19th century almanacs, including lunar charts and weather predictions, and regional information like a listing of courts and lists of elected officials. However, it is the extra details found within the pages that make each of the almanacs in our collection unique and interesting, since each author selected different additional information that they thought would be useful and entertaining to their readers. To illustrate this, we’ve displayed the 1818 edition open to the page for January. The monthly chart lists moon phases interspersed with observable days like “Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin born” on January 17, 1706 and “Peter [the] Great died” on January 28, 1725. At the top of the page is a verse that describes the month, which for January reads in part as “fast falls the fleecy shower; the downy flakes, descending and with never ceasing lapse, softly alighting upon all below.” The verses continue from month to month and culminates in one long poem that describes the entire year.
On the facing page is some less typical information. This almanac lists out the vacation schedules and academic calendars for a number of colleges located throughout New England, such as Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth. In the entry for Harvard, it also lists that “the public exhibitions of the students are in the college chapel, on the third Tuesday in October, the last Tuesday in April, and the Thursday preceding commencement, beginning at 11 o’clock A.M.” From what we can ascertain, this was a chance for students to present their work to the public, almost like a dissertation. Also of note are the pages following the monthly charts, which is a section titled “useful hints.” This includes a selection of miscellaneous tips like “rubbing cheese with red pepper prevents maggots” – which notes that rubbing cheese with butter and a red pepper, “gives a very fine colour to your cheese, but it is so pungent, that no fly would touch it.” There’s a food storage tip from 1817 to kick off your new year!
Visit us from January 6 through January 31 to see The New-England Almanack on display in our main library reading room, and if you’d like to start off your year with even more almanac content, be sure to check out our previous posts. In 2022 we featured Peter Parley’s Almanac for Old and Young, in 2021 we highlighted Fleet's Pocket Almanack for the year of our Lord 1789, and in 2020 we showcased a selection of Isaiah Thomas’s New England Almanac, which can also be viewed in our digital repository.
Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian
