The Missing Diary

In 1989 during the final preparations for the official opening of Huble Homestead a volunteer was restoring an old desk when he made an exciting discovery. Wedged behind one of the desk drawers was a little red book. On closer inspection it turned out to be a diary kept by Albert Huble during 1911. This was a thrilling find, as it confirmed the belief that the desk was one that Huble used while living at the homestead. Up to this point, information gleaned from other Huble’s diaries from 1909-1919 had been used to shape the restoration of the historic site and the 1911 diary helped to fill in a few gaps like the arrival of Huble’s wife, Annie Hart.

This original desk still sits in the office of the historic Huble house, while the contents of the diary were recorded before it was returned to his family. The transcriptions of all of Huble’s other diaries had been published by the Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage Heritage Society earlier in 1989; the 1911 diary was added in once it had been transcribed, and is still noted in the publication as the “Missing Diary”.