In Our Own Words: New England Diaries, 1600 to the Present - Vol. 1 Diary Diversity, Coming of Age

This publication is a collection of papers presented at the Dublin Seminar of New England Folklife conference in June of 2006/2007. This publication is the first of two volumes. Volume I opens with introductions to diaries and commonplace books. The next three papers concentrate on specific circumstances such as religious confessions, seafaring logs, and textile collecting. These are followed by three studies on diarist just attaining maturity, three more papers examine diarists entering marriage or acquiring an occupation, the final essay compares two siblings living in rural New York State.

The following is a list of the title and author of each paper:  A Tour of the New England Diary, 1650 – 1900 by Thomas Knoles, “i have used the words of others to tell my mind”: Composing the Self in Early New England Women’s Commonplace Books by Elizabeth Watts Pope, Gendered “Relations” in Haverhill, Massachusetts, 1719 – 1742 by Douglas L. Winiarski, “so ends this day”: Personal Records of Life at Sea from Nineteenth-Century New England Cod Fishermen’s Logs by Karen Alexander, Needles and Pens: The Sewing Diaries of American Women, 1890 – 1920 by Karen J. Herbaugh, The Revolutionary-Era Boy and “His Joyrnal”: Diary Keeping as a Step toward Manhood by J. L. Bell, “I am sure getting a liberal education”: The Evolution of Heterosocial Relationships at Northern Women’s Colleges, 1900 – 1925 by Priscilla J. Brewer, Mr. Jacob Bailey and the Ladies by James S. Leamon, “rendered…more ignorant than others”: Early Female Education in the Journal of Phebe Orvis by Susan Ouellette, The Druggist’s Apprentice: A Diary of Coming of Age in Antebellum Boston by Mary Fuhrer, Until Evening: The Restless Diary of John McCullough Bargar at the New England Conservatory, 1886 by Jeffrey Johnson, “many scenes of joy and sorrow”: The Diaries of Almira and Nancy Helmer by Diane L. Fagan Affleck.