George L. Van Bibber IV diary

The most remarkable feature of this collection is the voluminous daily diary kept by George L. Van Bibber IV from August 1926 to February 1979, the month before his death. The diary occupies 63 chronological volumes (with 7 additional volumes kept by Van Bibber on his travels), totaling approximately 50,000 pages. The format of the diary evolved over the years as Van Bibber refined and modified his system but the commitment to a faithful recording of the minutiae of everyday life never wavered. Not only do the entries capture life's progression of one individual from youth into old age but also they preserve a contemporaneous record of the social and technological changes over half a century.

Van Bibber recorded his daily routine from literally the exact time at which he awoke, to his meals, his conversations, mail received and sent, his dreams, what he wore, when he washed his socks or brushed his teeth, what clothes he took to the cleaners, his purchases, and financial transactions. He described parties and reported conversations, noted the pieces of classical music broadcast on the radio, summarized the plots of radio and television programs, movies and books, reported the weather, and commented on world affairs. When he was traveling, this recording became even more complex with times of departure, descriptions of scenery, hotels, cities, fellow travelers and the like.

Van Bibber began his diary while a student at the University of Virginia. He used old classroom notebooks and wrote in a dense scrawl, completely covering the pages with numerous amendments, additions and marginalia. Van Bibber occasionally made entries in Russian or in a (seemingly) invented alphabet. Many of the early volumes contain whimsical sketches or architectural drawings.

In 1935 Van Bibber began typing his diary on loose-leaf sheets of paper and binding them into volumes of approximately 1,000 pages. With few exceptions, he continued this practice until his death. He kept notes throughout the day and then transferred this information to a typed narrative form. Many of the early volumes contain indexes of those items or events Van Bibber deemed important but in 1947 he refined his system even further by instituting a card index. The subject headings of this card system are listed on pages 12-13 of this register. By far the most voluminous category is “motion pictures” reflecting Van Bibber's enthusiasm for the cinema, but there are also hundreds of cards for “books” and “letters.”

Van Bibber was a poor speller and often wrote in a phonetic style but in 1971 he began using an elaborate and complicated “shorthand” system of his own invention. With the exception of the diary of his round-the-world voyage in 1975, he made entries in this code for the rest of his life. The volumes for the latter years (1974-1979) also include Van Bibber's personal correspondence and copies of his replies.

In addition to the diary the collection includes three volumes of poetry written by Van Bibber; the typescript of his monograph “Bel Air - a character sketch of our county seat;” his treatise on English grammar, pronunciation and spelling titled “Wurz the Far at?;” and one folder of newspaper clippings and miscellaneous souvenirs.