Robert Henri, formerly known as Robert Henry Cozad, or as a child, Bob, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to John J Cozad, and Teresa Gatewood. His father founded the town of Cozad, which he gave his name and lived with his family and other settlers at the 100th Meridian in Nebraska. As noted in the introduction of Whitney’s transcription of 15 year old Henri’s diary, ‘Grammatical oddities’ are present, as a teenager he was not always accurate in spelling and punctuation.
On my first tour of the museum during my internship at the Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery in the small town in central Nebraska, I was informed that John Jackson Cozad had hoped the town would be a gambling free and alcohol free space. He intended the citizens to have a strong moral compass. He seemed to hope that the town could aspire to be an important point in the very center of America. According to my tour-guide, the founder of Cozad thought as the center most point of the country, they stood a chance of becoming the capital of the country. That might explain why this alcohol related entry is in code. Other diaries are missing, one from 1879, and 1882, but it seems unlikely that this was the sole event in which Henri utilised code.
Harry B. Allen wrote the only published transcript of the 1880 diary, for the Cozad local in 1956. Jake Whitney, who was an intern at the Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery in Cozad, Nebraska in 2022, transcribed the diary to make it more accessible to scholars. The original diary is in the collection of the Sheldon museum of Art in Lincoln, Nebraska. There have been three attempts to transcribe the diary, the first version is Allen Version 1, then an unknown author Version 2, and then the most recent version is known as Whitney Version 3. Allen excluded the code, perhaps for simplicity’s sake, as the current Executive Director of the Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery pointed out in the Epilogue. Whitney’s transcription in 2022 made the code accessible digitally, and available to scholars. I have not yet come across any recorded attempts at deciphering the code in the 1880 diary.
My first attempt at decoding was using the Caesar shift, which revealed some words, but didn’t work for every word perfectly, it almost seems at points like gibberish. My second attempt included both the Caesar shift and Henri’s un-coded words. While rearranging the space between words, I found the name Johnnie emerged twice. It is far too much of a coincidence to ignore the name, as Robert Henri’s brother Johnnie is mentioned often in the diary. Johnnie and young Robert spent days out helping with labour, fishing, getting up to mischief, and if this decryption is correct, perhaps drinking. When Johnnie’s name emerged disjointedly. It seemed that more of the words had been broken up or misspelt. The workings are included below.
On June 3rd I got a hold of images of the original journal entry in Henri’s own hand, from a very helpful associate registrar called Genevieve Ellerbee at the Sheldon Museum of Art. This fresh transcription allowed me to reassess the code that had previously been mis-transcribed. Mistakes in transcribing the code are excusable, as Henri’s handwriting is difficult at times. Using a combination of basic code breaking techniques and logic, I’m proud to say I have fully translated the entry Henri tried to hide with the Caesar Shift. Scroll to the bottom of the last page to read the translation.
The code as it appears in Whitney’s translation as follows:
B-Lfh pg cffs ibe cpfo tfrow gps cz vt cpzt xf xfxf wp pgfo jsv bw vif printing office after dark but the wind and rain caused kp a oojf & j wh cf kept bw vmpf. But kp ioof got b ci boof. to hp expo & pnf. He csfv hiv nf bqjow.
First attempt: Caesar shift
A keg of beer had boen seqnv for by us boys we wewe vo ofen iru av uhe oqhmshmf neehbd zesdq czqj ats sgd vhmc zmc qzhm bztrdc jo z nnie & i vg be jdos av uloe. Ats jo hnne fns a bh anne. sn go dwon & ome. Gd breu ghu me apinv.
Second attempt: Caesar shift + (uncyphered text in capital letters- as appears in original text, words resembling johnnie in italics)
A keg of beer had boen seqnv for by us boys we wewe vo ofen iru av uhe PRINTING OFFICE AFTER DARK BUT THE WIND AND RAIN CAUSED jo z nnie & i vg be jdos av uloe. BUT jo hnne fns a bh anne. to go dwon & ome. HE breu ghu me apinv.
First guess ( numbers indicate letters, eg. 123 is an unknown 3 letter word) :
A keg of beer had been sent for by us boys we were so often 123 in the printing office after dark but the wind and rain caused Johnnie and I to be 1234 12 1234. But Johnnie got a 12 1234 (to go down & home. He 123 123 me a 1234 (pint?)
At this stage I received a photograph of the original text (see Figures 1 and 2)
Figure 1. Photo of Henri code page. Sheldon Museum of Art. 1880
Figure 2. Close up of Henri code page from the Sheldon Museum of Art, 1880.
Reassessment of code – paying attention to Henri’s handwriting
B-Lfh pg cffs ibe, cffo. Tfou gps cz vt cpzt xf xfsf up pqfo ju bu uif PRINTING OFFICE AFTER DARK BUT THE WIND & RAIN CAUSED Kpioojf & J uh cf kept bu jpnf BUT Kpioojf got b dibodf to hp expo & hfu tpnf HE cspVHiu nf b qjou
Final translation using Caeser shift and original diary photographed at the Sheldon
A keg of beer had been sent for by us boys. We were to open it at the printing office after dark but the wind and rain caused Johnnie and I to be kept at home. But Johnnie got a chance to go down and get some. He brought me a pint.
“It is a code that hasn’t been deciphered since Henri wrote it as a 15 year old in 1880! I really enjoyed solving it.”
Jessica Sharkey, Museum of Childhood Ireland, Músaem Óige na hÉireann team member, PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin and Visiting Curator at the Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery 2024