This short paper (2-3pp, 800-1000 words) has relatively simple directions but will require you to be an attentive
and tireless historical detective. Your job is to find out as much as you can about the historical circumstances
surrounding a particular diary entry or series of entries written before 1877. This diary should be available
online (preferably, for you, transcribed so you don’t have to read other’s handwriting) and so that you can link
to it and source it.
The diary should also preferably be by someone who is not a well-known person. If you would like to make an
exception to this, just let me know.
After you locate your diary entry, you should brainstorm about all the different perspectives your diary could
provide a researcher exploring the diary. Once you think you cannot think of any more perspectives, take a
break, come back, and think of another one.
Then, either by performing research online or in the library, probe at least three aspects of American history or
culture which the diary illuminates. For instance, if you chose the diary of a western settler, you could briefly
examine how a series of entries reveals a) the hardships settlers faced, b) their relationship with native
Americans, and/or the c) differing expectations of the roles of men and women in moving west. These are just
examples. Even the smallest bit of detail in a diary can tell us a great deal about life during the era in which it
was written.
Below are some sample diary collections you could probe. Do not try to find the perfect diary or the perfect
series of entries. Reading Martha Ballard’s diary entries, and their interpretation by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, can
give you some idea of the richness present in the smallest details.
The goal of this short paper is merely to present a simple thesis (“These diary entries tell us about how a
particular person experienced a, b, and c”) and then detail through examples from the diary and simple outside
research what you have found.
The paper should be at least 600 words, at least five paragraphs long, and should be in 12-point font. Please
submit in either PDF or Word format onto Blackboard. In citing the diary, and outside research, please do so in
either MLA or Chicago format.
Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters 1846-1849… http://overlandtrails.lib.byu.edu/
Valley of the Shadow Project Diaries: http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/diaries_search
The Emilie Davis Diaries: https://davisdiaries.villanova.edu/january_1-3_1863/
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories (SUNY Database):
https://predator.oldwestbury.edu:2343/
Cherokee Voices: Early Accounts of Cherokees in the East:
https://predator.oldwestbury.edu:2430/ibio/ibio.result.documents.aspx?sourcecode=S10018621&sortorder=title
Sample Solution