Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the J. F. Osborne Diaries, #3180, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchase 1955

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Farm life--Tennessee--History--19th century.
• Farmers--Tennessee--History--20th century.
• Gibson County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs--20th century.
• Girls--Tennessee--Social life and customs.
• Osborne family.
• Osborne, J. F., b. 1843.
• Osborne, Mary.
• Osborne, Nannie.
• Physicians--Tennessee--History--20th century.
• Women--Tennessee--Diaries.
• Women--Tennessee--Social life and customs.

J. F. Osborne was a country doctor and farmer in Gibson County, Tenn.

The collection contains eighteen volumes of Osborne's daily diary, 1905-1924, and diary volumes of Osborne's wife Nannie and his daughter Mary. Dr. Osborne recorded weather, farm and housekeeping activities, professional calls (but no medical information), local events, leisure activities such as church affairs, short trips, Confederate reunions, and other concerns of private life. Two volumes of Nannie Osborne's diary, 1903 and 1904, recount family and social events; Mary Osborne's diary from 1905 is that of a schoolgirl, and includes poems and lists of callers. Also included are a small account book, 1890-1913, and a book of miscellaneous memoranda, 1901.