Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library The University of Michigan Divie and Joanna Bethune Diaries |
Divie Bethune was a Scottish emigrant merchant in New York City. His wife Joanna, born at Fort Niagara, was the daughter of a surgeon in the Royal American Regiment and Isabella Graham, a pioneer in humanitarian work. Joanna spent her early years in Antigua and Scotland, returning to America in 1789. She joined her mother teaching school and working in New York City charities. In 1802, seven years after their marriage, the Bethunes founded the first Sunday school in New York City; they remained active in the movement throughout their lives. Joanna was instrumental in founding the New York Orphan Asylum in 1806. Divie Bethune's business success allowed him to be a strong financial supporter of a number of national religious and humanitarian societies formed in the mid-nineteenth century.
Diaries of Divie Bethune, New York merchant, and his wife Joanna, humanitarian reformers.
This collection consists of 23 commonplace books or diaries kept by Divie and Joanna. The diaries of Divie are dated 1796-1823; those of Joanna are datged 1824-1825, 1828-1831, 1845-1849, and include an autobiographical account of her conversion experience in the 1790s. These volumes contain some regular diary entries and accounts of their travels but they are primarily records of the Bethune's spiritual introspection.
Transferred from Michigan Historical Collections, 1973; purchase 1990
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