This small collection concerning William Cairns, Ellsworth, Wisconsin, contains six diaries Professor Cairns kept while he was a student at the University of Wisconsin. Although he frequently mentions his classes and professors, the diaries are mainly an account of his own personal activities. They indicate an emphasis on courses in English and literature, portending, perhaps, his position as a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin a decade or so later.
Mr. Cairns' attendance at the University was interrupted several times by the necessity to earn extra funds so that he could continue his education. In the winter of 1885-1886 he taught in a rural school near Ellsworth; the following winter he was at the University, but substituted as a teacher at Fairchild between December and March. In the fall of 1887 he went to [New Mexico?] to teach at an army post. Although the diary for 1888 is not here, one assumes that he returned to the University at some time the following year.
The seventh volume in the collection is a copy of Professor Cairns' Ph.D. thesis, On the Development of American Literature from 1815 to 1833, published as a bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, March, 1898.
