In Inches, in Miles: The Journals of Cecil Westervelt, 1963-1967

Abstract

Cecil Westervelt recorded the moments of his life, his whole life, a habit he had inherited form his mother, who always kept a carefully written diary. Only one small portion of her diary still exists, but twenty years of his moments from 1963 until about one hour before his death in 1984 are preserved, typed single-spaced, on notebook paper and stored in eight tree ring binders. More specifically, Cecil’s journal during 1963-1967 showed a man in his mid 60’s living in Flint, Michigan, a town influenced heavily by the automobile industry, General Motors, in particular. In 1963, he was working at Fisher Body, a plant which assembled automobiles.