Discovering Clara McMillan's Commonplace Book and Creative Writing

As a daughter of Cedarville’s life writing author, Martha McMillan, Clara McMillan often assumed the duties of recording the happenings of Cedarville in Martha’s journals while her mother was away. Her handwriting appears in a number of journals, including the 1889 volume that I partially transcribed in 2024. However, due to a significant discovery, Clara’s literary journal has been recovered from a barn on what used to be the McMillan property. This journal contains stories that Clara adapted and recorded from writers such as Edward Everett Hale and Margaret Mantel Merrill. While Clara copied many stories, the research team and I have discovered that a select few of these stories are Clara’s original products. Featuring short stories and poems, this journal contains traces of a historic creative writer in Cedarville, and I propose to examine how these masterful literary pieces reflect Cedarville’s culture in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Because one of the stories involves a local commencement ceremony, students of Cedarville University and members of the Cedarville Village community can relate to Clara’s works. Studying these pieces from Clara’s literary journal gives Cedarville students and villagers an example of a woman who, through pieces of creative writing and literary recordings, captures the essence of not only Cedarville culture, but also American culture at large during this time period of history.