Sunday, January 1, 1922

Ushered in New Year in Peacock Coffee Shoppe with Ellen Neilsen, H.H., Marion B., Ruth & Mark Sawyer. Cold clear day. Arose 9:30 A.M. * To Church & S.S. Dinner. Took nap. To E.L. social hour & meeting.  H.H. Lead [sic]. To church. Ran sterioptican [sic]. Pageant "Lighting N.Y. Candles." Home with JESSIE SILVERNAIL. TO BED 3:30 A.M.

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So, Stanford is back at his journal with no explanation as to why he quit for seven months. He is not in school, so he is most likely working with his father at his butter and egg business. There are two new names in the list of friends: Ellen Neilsen, and Jesse Silvernail. And the old friends remain: Hanford's Marion and Ruth's Mark.  Both siblings will marry their beaus: Ruth on December 30 of this year, and Hanford in June of 1924.

Searching for Ellen Neilsen, I found a possible match: in the 1920 census, an Ellen Nielson is living in Schenectady with her parents, Charles and Mary Nielson. She is 18, working as a stenographer for General Electric. This is probably the girl. Jessie Silvernail is a 19-year-old college student in 1920, living in Schenectady with her parents. I'm not sure what college women could attend during that time, but it was not Union, which was all male. Her father worked for GE also, though, as a clerk, so that may be her connection to Ellen.

Taken from http://halboor.com/stereopticon

A stereopticon is a 3D viewer, usually seen in the hand-held version, but it was also a projector that could show slides or even moving pictures on a screen for group viewing. This is a picture of one used for film in 1922.

The film they saw, "Lighting N.Y. Candles," was probably taken at a Christmas candle lighting pageant in New York City that year.  Here is a newspaper article from the Dec 23, 1922 Brooklyn Daily Eagle that advertises such a Christmas eve service: