US-HHS-2005-001
Hardwick Historical Society
47 Depot Street, PO Box 177
Hardwick, Vt. 05843
Collection Title: John Bradford Diaries
Collection Dates: 1905-1962 (bulk 1938-1962)
Extent: 15 volumes
Name of Creator: John Bradford
Abstract: A collection of diaries kept over the course of the first half of the 20th century by a man who worked in the granite industry until it dried up. For a number of years he worked at a lot of jobs, then he eventually became the janitor at the local high school.
Preferred citation: John Bradford Diaries. Hardwick Historical Society, Hardwick, Vt. 05843
Biography: John J. Bradford was born in Cabot in 1874. His family moved to Walden in 1879.
In 1892 he went to work for G.A. Badger, who had an ice cutting and delivery
business in Mackville, and worked for him off and on for the next
six years.
Bradford worked as a granite cutter and represented the union at a
meeting in Montpelier in 1912. Hardwick’s granite industry fell off
greatly at the start of World War I, and Bradford had to find other
work. He took a logging job for Haskell Balch in November 1917, and
in January 1918 worked in some undefined capacity for Arthur Waterman.
In February 1918 he worked in a bobbin factory, and by April he worked
in a quarry on Buffalo Mountain. In 1920, he took a job at John Walsh’s
quarry on Buffalo Mountain.
In 1920, he bought a homestead next to his own in Mackville. In 1921,
he sold the house and retained 3 acres for his own use. In 1917, he had
had to sell some cows because he could not find pasture for them. He
immediately put cows on the new pasture. In April, 1921, he went
to work for P.A. Pike. In September, 1922, he was working at the Klondike
Quarry. In March, 1923, he went to work for George Bond. In July, 1924,
he was seriously injured while tearing down a building when a falling beam
hit him. In March, 1926, he went to work for Fletcher Granite, in the
Village. In April, 1929, he was boarding at Leonard Atkins, in Woodbury.
In December, 1931, he moved his family into the Village for the
winter. In January,1933, the newspaper referred to him as the
regular janitor at Hardwick Academy (HA). In May, 1933, he moved
from the Pierce Block on Main Street back to his home in Mackville.
In January 1935, he and his wife occupied the house of Dr. Crane
while Crane spent the winter in Florida. The Bradfords returned to
Mackville in May. That became their pattern – winter in the village
beginning in November, and the rest of the year in Mackville, begin
ning in May. In 1938, at the the HA&GS annual meeting he was
elected truant officer. In 1941, he was a Trustee of the Fairview Cemetery Commission.
Allen Davis, HA Class of ’49, remembers that “Bradford did more
than sweep the floors and tend the furnace. He was a quiet authority
presence around the building, and because his “office” was next to
the men’s room, he helped to contain the army of boys who arrived
during recess.” Davis added “I remember was 1946 Red Sox vs Cardinals
[World Series] ( we were all Red Sox fans). All the games were played
during the day. One at a time a group of us would ask permission to
go to the men’s room and then gather in Bradford’s room where he had
the radio on to the ball game. On one occasion the Principal Chandler
Moser joined us for he was a fan too. Bradford would have been 70
years old.”
Bradford was an active member of Modern Woodmen of America, the New
England Order of Protection, and on the Commission that oversaw the
Fairview Cemetery.
Bradford married Hattie Balch in August, 1901, and they had a
daughter, Ada. A devout Baptist, Bradford and his wife held prayer
meetings at his home, beginning about 1917 and continuing through
the 1930s. In July, 1951, John and Hattie celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary. She died in November, 1954; he in 1962.
Scope and Content: The collection consists entirely of diaries in which Bradford recorded the weather, work he did, people who came to visit, the comings and goings of his daughter, etc. Typically he’s not emotive, but he’s regular in what he reports and that tells a story across time.
System of arrangement: Chronological
Removed from Collection: Nothing
CONTROLLED HEADINGS
- People and families: John Bradford*; Ada Bradford*; Hattie Balch Bradford*
- Geographical names: Hardwick, Vt. ‐ History; Vermont ‐ Social history; Mackville (Vt.)*
- Corporate names: Hardwick Academy and Graded School District (Vt.);
- Occupations: Stonecutters; Janitors
- Genre: Diaries
- Topics: Daily Life ‐ Hardwick (Vt.)
SERIES/BOX/FOLDER List
- 1905, 1938, 1942-1943, 1944, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962 (Mackville)
- Ada Bradford, Friendship Birthday Book
Technical Details
- Conditions governing access: Open and available to the public
- Details of physical access: Nothing unusual
- Details of technical access: Nothing unusual
- Conditions governing reproduction access and use: Subject of copyright laws.
- Languages/scripts in the collection: English
- Other finding aids: None
- Custodial history: Elwyn J. Daniels, Jr., bought the collection at an auction in 2005 and donated it to the HHS.
- Immediate source of acquisition: Elwyn J. Daniels, Jr.
- Processing Information: Processed by Elizabeth H. Dow following the rules of DACS 2019.03 finished in December, 2020
- Appraisal/destruction/scheduling information: None planned
- Accruals: None planned
- Existence/location of originals: Hardwick Historical Society
- Existence/location of copies: None
- Related archival materials: Enos Balch Diaries
- Publication notes: None
- Miscellaneous notes: None