A Texas Baptist Preacher's Personal Diaries

[Texas]: [Religion]: Hilger, John R., Rev.:

[Collection of Eighteen Manuscript Diaries Kept by Reverend John Rufus Hilger, a Baptist Preacher in Texas, Recording His Life and Professional Activities for Almost Two Decades].

[Various locations in North Texas, mainly Greenville: 1935-1952]. Eighteen manuscript diaries, one daily entry per page, all mostly filled in, totaling approximately 5,800pp. and about 575,000 words, with numerous ephemeral items laid in. All in matching black, blue, or crimson cloth, with gilt titles on front cover reading "DIARY" and with the given year. [with:] Collection of Fourteen Manuscript Diaries from Hilger's Wife, Mary Ollie Haynes Hilger. Item #12849

A deeply-informative collection of personal diaries kept by Rev. John Rufus Hilger, a Baptist preacher and piano repair man based in Greenville, Texas during the first half of the 20th century. John Rufus Hilger (1884-1952) was born and raised in Boone, Arkansas, but is noted as early as 1910 (from census records) as a "Minister" in Collin County, Texas. Hilger married Mary Ollie Hayes in Collin County in 1901, and the couple raised four children. Reverend Hilger passed away in Greenville on January 7, 1953 and is buried in Farmersville, Texas. According to his obituary in the McKinney Courier Gazette, Reverend Hilger "was a Baptist preacher for 42 years and was well known throughout Collin and Hunt counties."

Reverend Hilger was a obsessive diarist, recording his life and work almost every day in the eighteen annual diaries present here. The diaries necessarily detail a multitude of both personal and professional topics and activities over this time. A quick survey of personal activities recorded here include having dinner with various friends and congregants; noting visits by children, family, and friends; recording his finances and purchases (often with lists of prices of various goods); gardening, taking care of his livestock, and keeping bees; mentioning election dates and commenting on current events ("The Civil War in Spain is still raging. It started last September" [February 23, 1937]); remarking when he works on a piano; and so much more. Interestingly, the whole of his November 23, 1936 entry records his family trip to Dallas to attend the Texas Centennial Exposition, where he comments on seeing the "old relics," "old documents," and "new inventions." His entry for December 7, 1941 is headed, "WAR BEGAN" in bold capital letters. One part of his entry for May 8, 1945, headed "V-E Day German surrendered," reads: "The war is ended in Europe, but is still going on with Japan. Great celebrations went on all day by the Allies."

Hilger's professional tasks include a legion of sermons throughout the years performed all across North Texas (Hilger usually includes the titles of such sermons, along with other details, i.e., "Preached at 11: 'Missions.' Took collection for Home and Foreign Missions, received $17.55"); conducting funerals at home and in other areas around the area; attending Baptist conferences and meetings around the state; teaching classes at Baptist schools; and more. A healthy number of ephemeral items are laid in throughout the diaries, likely picked up by Hilger during the course of his work. Among these items are commercial cards, receipts, a piece of V-Mail sent home by Hilger's nephew from France in January 1945, a political campaign card for the local sheriff, and a business card for a cobbler known as "The Crippled Shoemaker" in Paris, Texas. Reverend Hilger's diaries last throughout the year before his death, with his last entry dated in early February 1952.

Greenville, Texas was a notoriously racist town in north Texas. Once a center for the booming cotton industry, officials in Greenville employed the typical array of Jim Crown laws to discourage settlement by African Americans in the 20th century. Additionally, a welcome sign hung over Lee Street in downtown Greenville from 1921 to 1965 that read, "Greenville - The Blackest Land, The Whitest People." Reverend Hilger's views on race are hopefully more positive. The only mention we saw of African Americans in perusing the diaries is a line in his March 22, 1945 entry: "Went to see the Negro about ploughing for us."

Reverend Hilger's diaries are accompanied by fourteen additional manuscript diaries of the same type he used, authored by his wife, Mary Ollie Hayes Hilger (1882-1964). Mary Hilger was also born in Arkansas and likely accompanied Reverend Hilger to Texas at the turn of the 20th century. These diaries date from various years between 1942 and 1963. Adorably, both Reverend Hilger in the above diaries and Mary Ollie in her diaries refer to each other as "Mrs. Hilger" and "Mr. Hilger," respectively. Mrs. Hilger records an understandably wide range of observations and activities over the course of twenty years. In and of themselves, the present diaries are an interesting and informative collection of the thoughts and experiences of a Baptist woman in Texas at the midcentury mark. She often mentions visiting her daughter Jester in Fort Worth and other family matters, and also occasionally includes observations on topics such as current affairs. In one such entry from November 5, 1952, Mary comments on the recent presidential election: "Ike was elected by a large majority - the largest vote cast in the history of our country. Seems as though most of the people are fed up on Trumanism, and war. I know I am and have been a long time."

An extraordinary collection of the seemingly ordinary lives of a Baptist preacher and his wife in Texas over the course of more than twenty-five years, seen through both of their eyes for much of the time, with deep research potential.

Price: $3,750