The file consists of the diary of Robert Hume from September 1837 to May 1840. It shows that he stayed on longer than anticipated in Upper Canada, settling in the vicinity of Cobourg and Port Hope. He wrote on 24 September 1837, "I feel on the whole pretty comfortable and reconciled to the idea of being a servant which is now for the first time my situation". Earlier he had stayed with the Joplings in Cobourg who had also emigrated from North Shields in Yorkshire. Though now residing in another home, he still considered the Jopling family house his "home in America" in an entry of 22 October 1837. He remarked on the outbreak of the rebellion in Upper Canada in December 1837 and observed Port Hope's eager response to the call of duty. In a series of entries, he described the beating of drums and sounding of fifes as the militia marched out to Toronto, the astonishingly peaceful aspect of the town after its departure, popular opinion, the Caroline incident in the Niagara River, and his disdain for those who wished to impose their political views on others.
Hume readied himself for departure from Ontario for a ship sailing from the port of New York, writing in his diary on 29 January 1838: "Took leave of my American home with a promise to return in the fall. I certainly feel almost as much regret tho' less terror of the journey than on leaving England....Certainly if the kindness of friends to one who went among them a complete stranger can have any influence Canada has many claims on me and altho' it as a country has many disadvantages and no society is without its failings yet I feel that I can live pretty well in it if I wish to be content". In March 1838, he remarked on his homecoming to Northumberland and compared unfavourably English railway travel with the superior comfort and speed of railway trains in the United States. His family all seemed "to wish to divert him from returning to Canada which I say...may not be very difficult to accomplish if they can point out anything more agreeable here".
