This diary belonged to school teacher Ruby Jewell whose family emigrated to California from Vermont in the late 1850s or early 1860s. Entries include family news, teaching in school, giving music lessons, making a bead garret, church activities, trips to nearby cities, going to the theater and opera house, singing, dancing. The last few pages record money spent on various items such as corsets, lemons, ribbons, and peaches.

Diary includes pages of the San Francisco Directory listing separate sections with addresses, city offices and buildings, churches, banks, theaters, locations of fire alarms, etc in the beginning.