Martha's Vineyard Museum

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Biography/Historical Note

Scope and Content Note

Administrative Information

Related Materials

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Descriptive Summary

Repository	Martha's Vineyard Museum Gale Huntington Research Library 59 School Street P.O. Box 1310 Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-4441
Call Number	RU 449
Creator	Byrne, Esther Vincent, 1897-1979
Title	Esther Vincent Byrne diaries
Date	1918-1960
Extent	1 box + 1 oversize folder (0.514 cubic feet)
Language	The materials are in English.
Abstract	The collection consists of diaries created by Esther Vincent Byrne between 1918 and 1960 and one school certificate issued to Esther Walker Vincent. Esther Vincent Byrne, 1897-1979, was a beloved resident of Edgartown and a homemaker.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use and Reproduction Restrictions

Requests to reproduce material from this collection should be directed to the library's staff. Reproduction fees may apply.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Deborah Rogers in 2006.(Accession no. 2006.080).

Publication Information

Martha's Vineyard Museum

Gale Huntington Research Library
59 School Street
P.O. Box 1310
Edgartown, MA 02539
(508) 627-4441

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Insley Julier in August 2013 and completed by Lara J. Ullman in May 2014. Finding aid was machine-encoded by Nathaniel Janick in March 2015.

 Creation of this finding aid was sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Related Materials

Related Material

The museum holds an oil painting and a drawing of Thomas Nevin Jernegan Dexter, see accession numbers 1950.006 and 1936.019 respectively.

Biography/Historical Note

Esther Walker Vincent was born in Edgartown on July 20, 1897, to John Pierce Vincent and Etta Mayhew Vincent. Esther Walker Vincent had one older sister, Grace Vincent West. Esther attended local schools in Edgartown and participated in the Edgartown Federated Church Choir. At the age of 20, Esther Walker Vincent married John “Laurie” Strahl, whereafter she began her career as a dedicated homemaker. Their only child together, Bernice Strahl, was born on June 14, 1918. The family briefly relocated to Meriden, Connecticut before returning to Edgartown in 1920. Laurie died on March 16, 1921 from phthisis pulmonalis.

In 1922, Esther Vincent Strahl married Andrew J. Byrne. Andrew Byrne served in the Massachusetts state police for eight years as a sergeant. Between the years of 1926 and 1937, the family moved to several areas in eastern Massachusetts while Andrew was assigned to the Commonwealth Armory in Boston, and later in Framingham. During this period, Esther Vincent Byrne’s youngest daughter, Elizabeth “Betty” Byrne was born on April 1, 1928.

In 1937, Esther and her family returned to Edgartown, where her husband worked as a contract carpenter. In addition to her role as homemaker, Esther was an active member of the Unity Club at the Edgartown Federated Church. On July 28, 1951, her eldest daughter, Bernice Strahl, married Anthony Duarte. The following year, Esther’s granddaughter, Deborah, was born on February 20, 1952. Esther’s older sister, Grace died on June 6, 1956. On January 3, 1958, her husband Andrew died suddenly in their home. Esther died on August 25, 1979 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital after a longer period of illness. She was 82 years old.

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of 21 diaries created by Esther Vincent Byrne, documenting the daily events of her life between the years of 1918 and 1960. The diaries provide insight into the lives of homemakers on the island. They also reveal the challenges encountered by islanders during the Great Depression and Second World War, and the effects those events had on family dynamics. This collection also contains one certificate issued to Esther Walker Vincent in 1911, permitting her progression into high school.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged chronologically.