A Hundred Years Ago hit a milestone today. It’s 15 years old. I did the very first post on January 1, 2011. The blog’s original purpose was to share with family members my grandmother’s diary entries a hundred years to the day after she wrote them. I also often posted additional information to explain and flesh out the entries. I planned to do a post every day during the four years of the diary. To my surprise, in addition to my family, other people soon started reading the posts.
My grandmother, Helena Muffly, kept the diary from January 1, 1911 – December 31, 1914 when she was a teen living on a farm in central Pennsylvania. After I posted the last diary entry, I told readers that A Hundred Years Ago had ended, and that there would be no more posts. However, I discovered that I missed blogging. So, about eight months later, I reinvented A Hundred Years Ago as a place to post recipes and other tidbits about food and cooking from a hundred years ago. And, the rest is history.
Some of you have been with A Hundred Years Ago since almost the beginning; others have been part of this blogging community for a few years, months, or days. Thank you! I’m humbled by your caring and support across the years. I am so fortunate to have wonderful readers like you.
In case you’re interested, here’s the very first post:
Posted on January 1, 2011 by Sheryl
15-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Mid ice and snow,
and wintry glow
The happy new year rings.
So now I’ll commence,
And not with pretense,
My diary of interesting things
Sunday, January 1, 1911: The old year has passed, and the new year is ushered in with its joys and possibilities. To me the old year has been quite a pleasant one. May this year be as pleasant. Christmas brought me no fatal grievances, and it really proved to be enjoyable and merry. I received quite a small number of Christmas presents although none of them were very costly. Judging none of them to exceed the modest price of fifty cents. (By this no one should think I am ungrateful for I really mean to be a grateful girl.)
This afternoon I went to Sunday school and attended catechize after church. On my way home I received a charming new year’s gift. (Thanks to the donor.) The first day of the new year is almost spent and I feel rather sad.
Helena Muffly
Happy birthday and happy New Year! I’ve enjoyed your blog since almost the beginning.
Thank you! I’ve enjoyed getting to know you over the years. Finding Eliza must be as old or older than A Hundred Years Ago. It’s amazing how the years have flown by.
Finding Eliza started in May of 2010. I had to go check.
Congrats on how long you’ve been blogging. We’re both becoming “old-timers.” The years sure have flown by. I have really enjoyed getting to know you and have learned so much from you.
What a fun time it’s been! I enjoyed your first postings immensely, but I was so glad when you began sharing with us again. The number of recipes I’ve tried after reading them here is substantial, and it’s always fun to read about the hints and history you offer along with them. Here’s to 2026, and continued success for you!
Thanks! It has been a fun time. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you via our blogs.
Congratulations on 15 years!
Thanks! I appreciate your support. The years have gone by so quickly – and when I realized a few days ago that I was coming up on 15 years as I blogger I could barely believe it myself.
Happy New Year! Congratulations on 15 years of blogging! How different the writing style was 115 years ago.
Happy New Year! It is fascinating the way my grandmother described some things in her diary.
Good wishes as you celebrate 15 years of blogging!
Thanks! It’s been nice getting to know you. You write such fun comments, and I really enjoy them.
Congratulations! I really enjoy reading your posts every week. They are a fascinating peak at history. Thank you!
It’s nice to hear that you enjoy the posts. I have a lot fun doing them. It is really interesting how much changed between 1911 and 1926. During the years that I’ve been doing the blog, it went from an era where women wore dresses that went down to the floor to 1920 when women got the right to vote to the 1920s when dresses were much shorter and some women were flappers.
Such a lovely start 15 years ago and to my day each time you post
I’m glad you enjoy the posts. I appreciate your support over the years.
Happy anniversary my friend!
Thank you! I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you via our blogs over the years.
I think of it as this century’s pen pals!
I love your description. I’ve very fortunate to have you as a 21st century “pen pal.”
❤️
It takes talent and discipline to create and maintain a blog for 15 years. Congratulations.
Thank you! I can’t believe how quickly the years have flown by. I appreciate all your support over the years.
I love this blog and am constantly inspired by and enjoying each post. Thank you for sharing these gems! 💎💖
It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoy this blog. Happy new year.
Happy anniversary, and may you have many more. Your gram wrote a very nice poem for the day! Hope everyone has a healthy and happy new year.
My grandmother wrote a poem on the first day of each month for the entire four years of the diary. I was always surprised by her discipline – I probably would have just written a poem whenever I felt like it. Thanks for the kind thoughts. I hope that you also had a wonderful holiday season. Happy New Year!
I may have been following you since the beginning. It was such a wonderful idea to begin the blog to share your grandmother’s diary!
It’s been wonderful getting to know you via our blogs. I really appreciate your support over the years. It’s hard to believe how quickly the years have flow by.
And I loved the diaries. Been hanging around ever since. Happy anniversary
Thanks for the kind words. I also really enjoyed my grandmother’s dairy entries. I learned a lot about both myself and my grandmother during the years that I was going through the diary one day at a time.
Congratulations!
Thanks! I appreciate your support over the years. Happy New Year!
Thank you for this first post. I had not read it before
You’re welcome. Even though I’ve read my grandmother’s first diary entry many times over the years, until I was working on this post, it had been a long time since I’d looked at it. It was fun to read it again. I always have new thoughts and perspectives each time I go back to the diary.
Words are still powerful!! She was a good writer, too.
She did have a nice way with words. Back when I was posting her diary entries, I sometimes wondered what she would think about people reading what she wrote so many years later. I want to think that she would have been pleased.
Surely she would be pleased!!
I always enjoyed the diary entries. I have a diary kept by my grandmother when she was about 16, but it doesn’t have the charm – all about what happened, but not what she felt about it. (she may have been careful because her mother was definitely the kind of woman who would have read her daughter’s diary without a qualm).
It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoyed the diary entries. I’ve appreciated your support over the years. You may want to try just reading one entry a day when you look at your grandmother’s diary. I know that I read through my grandmother’s diary shortly after she died and I didn’t get much out of it. Prior to the beginning of this blog, I read and then transcribed the entire diary in just a few days. I got more out of it then. But, I didn’t really recognize the charm or the depth of her thoughts until I actually starting posting the diary entries – and I had to grapple with what to write related to her entries one day at a time. The slow reading process really enabled me to see things I’d missed before.
Congratulations!
Thanks for your support over the years. I always enjoy your thoughtful comments.
Wow, congratulations, and Happy New Year!
Thanks – I’ve enjoyed getting to know you over the years. Happy New Year!
congratulations. Doesn’t the time fly by? It will be 13 years of blogging for me this year. How can that be? 🙂
Happy new year
sherry
Thanks – how true. Time sure does fly by. And, congrats to you on your upcoming 13th blogiversary. Happy New Year!
Onwards and upwards. I’m so glad I found your blog!
The sentiment is mutual. I’m so glad I’ve found your blog. It’s been so much fun having virtual conversations with you as we’ve discussed food differences and similarities between the U.K. and the U.S., and other things.
Isn’t it just? I’ve loved our little conversations.
Oh my goodness, I remember reading your Grandmother’s diary! That is how I was first introduced to your blog, Sheryl. Congratulations on 15 yrs!
You’ve been a reader for a long time. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you, and appreciate your support over the years.
Congratulations on your 15th Blogging Anniversary! I can’t remember when I started following your blog, but it was back when you were sharing your grandmother’s diary. And I do remember that it was Kathy at Lake Superior Spirit who told me about your blog and thought I might enjoy it. I did!