The Vanderpool religious journal contains religious diary entries from three authors over the course of 52 years. The journalists began their portions of the volume with brief biographical introductions, and offered numerous musings on their relationships to religion. The first, and most prolific, writer began his biographical note with an account of his conversion, and on August 14, 1833, started his daily diary entries, which focused on the impact of religion on his life. After August 31, entries became more sporadic until a final note on January 1, 1841.
The second portion of the journal is dated November 14, 1866, and contains a brief autobiographical note about the author, likely C. W. Vanderpool, including indications of strong religious convictions. A loose paper inserted into this section of the volume indicates that the book was a gift to C. W. Vanderpool from his mother, Helen Elmira Vanderpool, of Buffalo, New York.
The third body of material in the journal consists of two pages written in January 1885 by a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, and relates primarily to attendance at several religious meetings and other events. This section of the volume concludes on January 30, 1885.
The journal also contains "Exertations from the following texts," which is a list of Bible verses and brief lines taken from them.
The first owner of the volume was born in New York City on January 27, 1800, the eldest of nine children. In August 1830, he relocated to Clarkstown, New York, for health reasons, and in early 1831, he moved again to Haverstraw, New York. In Haverstraw, he found himself drawn to Christianity, and he soon joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, led by James V. Poots. He received an exhorting license on March 1, 1834, and may have eventually become a preacher.
The second of the three authors, C. W. Vanderpool, was born August 21, 1842, in Buffalo, New York. His father was a preacher and led a Sabbath school in St. Joseph, Michigan, where he lived in 1866. C. W. Vanderpool's mother, Helen Elmira Vanderpool, gave him the journal on March 30, 1866.
The third author of the book joined the YMCA in early 1885, and was likely quite young when he composed these journal entries.
