1918 ORIGINAL DIARY AND NOTEBOOK OF A STUDENT AT A NEW ENGLAND PREPARATORY SCHOOL DURING THE AWFUL WAR WITH GERMANY BUT WHO WOULD SOON ENOUGH GO ON TO PRINCETON, HARVARD, US MILITARY INTELLIGENCE AND FAME AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST AND ANTIQUARIAN

On offer is a notebook journal of a young man who would go on to become a note antiquarian and archaeologist. This journal is a small 2-ring, flip-top style binder containing 134 pages. It measures 7.5 inches by 4.75 inches and is about 95% complete. It is in good condition and the handwriting is legible. Accompanying the journal is a lovely black and white photograph taken of the author when he was an infant. Eric Hyde Lord Sexton was born in 1902 in New York City in 1902. He came from a wealthy family. He studied at Princeton University initially and then earned an MA from Harvard. Travelling to England, he studied at Oxford, earning a BLitt. Returning to the United States, he joined the faculty of Harvard and taught archaeology. He was also a noted antiquarian and was a Fellow of the British Society of Antiquarians. He wrote several books and when he passed away in 1980, he left an unfinished book on life in Saxon England. In WWII, he served in the U.S. army as an Intelligence Officer, having attained the rank of Major. This journal, written when he was 16, appears to be both a daily journal and a class writing exercise. Some of the entries show definite signs of having been corrected or reviewed. It covers the period from Oct. 15th, 1918 until Dec 13th, 1918. His entries recount daily events and are written in a very stylized manner, as if writing for an older audience, perhaps his teacher. The following excepts will give a flavour of this journal: "Today I persued my regular course of studies. During my free time in the afternoon I secured detention for neglecting yesterday to tell the "prefect" that I had re-swept my room. Later in the afternoon I surveyed until it was time for my English class. I was very interested in hearing the excellent answer made by our President to the German note of peace proposals. I wish the war would come to a speedy and victorious finish so that my dear father could regain some of his former health and vigor. ." [Oct 13]; "This day I attended school chapel as usual and posted the list of library rewards. I went, after the morning service to the room of H.E. Scheidt, a professor at this place where I perused a good deal of the literature pertaining to Harvard University. I found this most interesting to me and remained there till about lunch time. In the afternoon, I had a period at the piano with one Mr. Schenk, a Jew from the violins of the New York Symphony orchestra. ." [Oct 20]. What is interesting is that whoever was marking his work stroked out the word Jew with a red marking pen. None-the-less, it illustrates the ongoing problem of discrimination engrained in the fabric of the United States, both then and extending forward over the next century. "When I awoke this morning, I heard all of the church bells ringing in town and when I got up to the buildings I found that peace had been declared. This time it is no idle rumor. The whole school attended chapel. The headmaster said we could celebrate by following our usual course of study but that in the evening we would march in town in the regular battalion formation. We were excused from classes in the afternoon. ." [Nov 11]. For a social historian, this journal offers an excellent look into the private school life of students from well-to-do families in New England. It addresses directly and indirectly the cultural norms and values of that segment of society which was the source of many of America's future leaders and social influential members of society. His entries are lively with wry observations of school life.…