One of the best primary source materials for any researcher to explore has always been diaries and letters, the first-hand account of anyone living through a particular place in time or historical event. Today, many people may not write with pen and paper, but describing the daily activities and stories of our everyday life is alive and strong via blogs, social media posts, and emails. Keeping a journal, or writing our ideas and feelings down, no matter to format, can reduce our daily worries and tension, organize our thoughts, maintain goals, and help us develop strategies for dealing with daily challenges and fears.
In celebration of National “Dear Diary” Day, on September 22, the IU East Campus Library is highlighting some of the databases we subscribe to that focus on primary sources like diaries as well as some open access repositories that contain the diaries and letters of historical figures in US history.
Two important considerations when searching through these databases is that many of the collections contain materials with a “western” or Euro-centric viewpoint and they may also contain outdated, biased, and offensive views and terminology that is no longer acceptable. Personal accounts may also fall under the description of “manuscript,” “journal,” or “correspondence” instead of diary or letters.
Library Databases:
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries: This collection contains 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters, and memoirs in relation to the Civil War.
British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries: This collection includes the immediate experiences of approximately 500 women, as revealed in over 100,000 pages of diaries and letters spanning more than 300 years.
North American Immigrant Letters and Diaries: This collection includes 2,162 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of information, providing a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada between 1800 and 1950. Composed of contemporaneous letters and diaries, oral histories, interviews, and other personal narratives, the series provides a rich source for scholars in a wide range of disciplines.
North American Women’s Letters and Diaries: This collection includes the immediate experiences of 1,325 women and 150,000 pages of diaries and letters spanning nearly 300 years. The collection also includes biographical sketches of people represented in this database.
Early Encounters in North America: This collection documents the relationships among peoples in North America from 1534 to 1850. The collection focuses on personal accounts and provides unique perspectives from all the protagonists, including traders, slaves, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, native peoples, and officials, both men and women.
Life at Sea: Spanning three centuries and focusing on the Anglo-American maritime world, this database highlights the individual experiences and personal narratives of seafarers. Through a broad range of sources, from journals and memoirs to ships’ logs and court records, the lives of ordinary seamen, merchants, whalers, and pirates can be explored.
Mountain People: Life and Culture in Appalachia: This collection consists of the diaries, journals, and narratives of explorers, emigrants, military men, Native Americans, and travelers. In addition, there are accounts on the development of farming and mining communities, family histories, and folklore. These accounts provide a view of the of the vast region between Lexington, Kentucky and Winchester, Virginia, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Birmingham, Alabama, and provides information on the social, political, economic, scientific, religious, and agricultural characteristics of the region.
A few other databases that contain personal diaries and journals of people living and working abroad during various points in time are the Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, 16th to 20th Century, China: Trade, Politics, & Culture, Africa and the New Imperialism, Age of Exploration, and Meiji Japan.
Open Access Repositories:
These repositories are open to anyone and do not require a university or personal login to access.
The Great Diary Project: The Great Diary Project was launched in 2007 by two diary devotees, Dr Irving Finkel and Dr Polly North. In 2009, the project was fortunate to find its permanent home, at Bishopsgate Institute. The project rescues, archives and makes publicly available a growing collection of more than 17,000 unpublished diaries.
Library of Congress Digital Collections: You can view a variety of collections spanning numerous disciplines containing personal papers, diaries, journals, and correspondence of notable names in history, including Margaret Mead, Leonard Bernstein, Walt Whitman Sigmund Freud, Rosa Parks, Wilbur and Orville Wright, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Clara Barton, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and more.
World Digital Collection (Diaries): The WDL sought to preserve and share some of the world’s most important cultural objects, increasing access to cultural treasures and significant historical documents to enable discovery, scholarship, and use. The diaries represented in this collection come from authors all over the world, including Japan (Mansai, 1339), Sweden (Strindberg, 1896), Brazil (Almeida, 1798), Russia (Potanin, 1883), China (Yang, 1522), and more.
If you need assistance in using these resources or finding primary source materials related to your research topic, Ask Us! iueref@iue.edu or click here:
