aside from his paintings, mcentee's enduring legacy are the detailed journals he kept from the early 1870s until his death. these diaries provide a vivid, accurate impression of the life of a typical new york painter during and after the gilded age. in his writings, mcentee records a detailed account of hudson river school artists, their day-to-day life, gossip and personal reflections, and the overall arc of the american art world in the second half of the 19th century. he discusses his artistic successes and trials, particularly as money becomes more scarce with the decline in popularity of hudson river school art.