Pennsylvania, Minnesota, 1907-1908

File — Box: 5, Volume: 24

Identifier: II

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Douglass worked for Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh and collected specimens in Utah. His wife Pearl stayed for some time with her in-laws in Medford, Minnesota. The diary entries are both Earl's and Pearl's.

3 April 1907--"Had an indignation meeting at the Museum, four of us. Have found definitely that one man's salary has been raised to $2000 while other men just as essential for the museum are left with a meager salary hardly enough to live on. It is considered nothing less than an outrage. The way things are run at the museum is certainly surprising to those who have not been initiated."
5 April 1907--"I have been helping get some things in the cases today. ... We will undoubtedly be able to get our exhibit in shape if we can get a couple more cases. We have a lot of unique specimens but I do not consider the hall at all fitted for exhibition and the doctor will not let those who are capable of doing so arrange things and to my notion and that of others his taste and judgment are extremely poor. It is too bad that such a man must occupy such a place."
6 April 1907--"The papers announce that Carnegie has announced the amount of his gift to the Institute and Technical School. The amount is stated as $6000000, $4000000 of which is for the Institute. It looks now as if we could tell pretty soon whether our promises have been all chaff or are sincere. If I am not treated somewhere near right in the way of a salary I shall begin to prepare to get out. I feel somewhat sore about the salary business and I fear I shall until I am treated right. . . . If he [director of Carnegie Museum] will not give me a decent salary after I have been preparing for so many years I hope he will print my papers."
7 April 1907--"The view we are now getting of the past by discovery of fossil animals and plants makes the present world ever new to us, giving to everything a wider interest and a greater significance. Every little untouched spot of brushwood, every tree, every plant suggests new ideas and is a little window for a world of the imagination."
13 April 1907--"The front part of the Institute building is beautiful. The museum part might be much better or much worse. We are yet in suspense as to our fates--that is as to our salaries. I have been contemplating taking the Civil Service Examination for aide in Geology in the U. S. Geol. Sur. but do not want to leave here. My heart is in the work and I wish to spend at least another year here and round up that work. I do not feel that I will ever, now after waiting all these years, get the salary I ought to have."
23 April 1907--(Pearl Douglass) "I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Mr. Carnegie talk. He is a little man with white hair and a very strong blue eye. I believe he has a heart full of sympathy for the people in general but I wonder if he feels that they receive as much from his libraries etc as he intends they shall. Sometimes I almost wish the dedication had never come but theoretically I know it is best. Sometimes it seems more pleasant to live in hopes of something better coming than to witness the realities of life."
31 May 1907--"We are somewhat anxious just now. I have made application for a trip to the Big Horn Basin or to the Uinta Basin. I made the application before founders day and have not heard the decision yet. I want to go to Utah. ... I wish I could go to collect fossil mammals. It is what I have wished to do for years."
8 March 1908--"We were counting on a small baby and we were surprised at his size. He weighed about 10 pounds and was a stout healthy well formed fellow. The doctor said, 'Its a great big boy,' or something of that kind and Pearl said, 'Oh my I'm glad of that.' She was determined to have a boy and would not talk girl."

Dates

1907-1908

Language of Materials

From the Collection: Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.