Russell writes intermittently about work on his parents’ farm near Prince Albert, which they rent and then buy in 1912 from Solomon Wilson. He records taffy pulls, box socials, temperance meetings, hockey and baseball games, and the young women he encounters. He also notes getting a telephone and learning to drive a car. At the back, he includes recipes, cures, poems, and accounts for sales of grain, hay, and potatoes. Sadly, he suffers from consumption and dies young. A few additional entries are made in 1919, likely by his brothers.

Front cover of Russell’s farm diary.