a labor of love

So this is what had me swooning at Stenton ~ a pocket book made in 1744 by Hannah Logan for John Smith (who she would eventually marry in 1748). At the time John Smith proposed, Hannah was 28, which then was considered an unusual and rather advanced age to be married. In another unusual move, her parents allowed her complete freedom in her choice of a husband ~ something she exercised by refusing a considerably more wealthy suitor in favor of Smith. It was apparently quite a love match, as described by Smith: "the most perfect Harmony our Souls seem'd entirely knit and united together." He chronicled their relationship in his diary, which was published in 1904 and most effectively titled as follows:

Hannah Logan's courtship, a true narrative; the wooing of the daughter of James Logan, colonial governor of Pennsylvania, and divers other matters, as related in the diary of her lover, the Honorable John Smith, assemblyman of Pennsylvania and king's Councilor of New Jersey, 1736-1752 (edited by Albert Cook Myers)

You may read the full text here.

The pocket book itself is exquisitely stitched silk on linen, and inscribed: John Smith / Pocket Book / 1744 (detail photographs here).