A Diary as a Historical Document There are two main types of historical documents; primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are actual records that have survived from the past, such as letters, photographs, articles of clothing. Secondary sources are accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they happened. Who Writes Diaries? Everyone and anyone can write a diary. There are only two rules: write every day and include the date. What determines if others are ultimately interesting in reading a diary are honesty, detail, language, humor, selfcriticism, dreams, doubts, mysteries, memories, goals and fears. If it is an honest personal expression encompassing the senses, emotions, memories, and imagination, it will be of interest to the diarist and others. What are diaries? Diaries are authentic records of time and place because they are dated observations. They can be private or as public as internet blogs. Traditional diaries are often treasured as micro-histories, depictions of an individual in a specific time and place. Diaries are sometimes tools used by writers and artists as a source of inspiration, exploration of interests, as a way of charting growth, remembering experiences, tracking habits, or as an exercise in freedom. Where do people write diaries? People write wherever they can carve a space of their own. Some place no one will be looking over their shoulder. Wherever it is light enough to see and warm enough to relax. Someplace they can hear their own voice. Wherever they can concentrate on their inner self and let their hands move across the page uninterrupted. As most of us know, it takes practice to be able to block out a noisy background. Since when have people written diaries? The court ladies of old Japan who lived from 1009 to 1059 kept diaries. Lewis and Clark wrote almost 5,000 pages on their Corp of Discovery in 1803-1806 as they traveled into unknown western territory. A woman named Mary Henry kept a diary of personal insights into Washington during the Civil War, including April 12, 1865, on the death of President Lincoln. Another wartime diary, titled Last Night I Dreamed of Peace, was written by a 27 year old North Vietnamese female doctor named Dang Thuy Tram who died caring for the wounded Viet Cong. Slaves, pirates, prisoners and children like Anne Frank have kept diaries. Virginia Wolf and Thomas Mann used the diary to cull ideas for books and to keep the voice within going strong and writer’s block at bay. Anais Nin wrote diaries to explore and record her desires and fantasies. Artist Andy Warhol began his diary when his accountant hounded him to keep track of his expenses – and his diary turned into a who’s who in the art world. Why write a diary? Everyone has their own reasons for keeping a diary. Public of private, all diaries are a form of communication and sometimes reach the level of art. Self expression is healthy and natural – it makes people feel connected to themselves and to others. Through art forms such as writing, people discover their own individuality and come to value the large diverse humanity we are all part of. There is no such thing as normal or average. No one chooses where and when to be born and yet we do have a say in who we become. A record of life, in our own words, can be comforting. It can also help change the world. The Task On the following pages are five sample diary entries. Your assignment is to answer the following questions about each entry: Name of Diarist Date of Entry Summary of the events described in the entry Assessment of the motives of the diarist. (Why did they keep the diary, for self expression or to maintain a personal or historical record? Why?) Assessment of the historical value of the entry (What can we learn about the time period or life of the writer from the entry?) 1) March 17, 1127 Galbert of Bruges And it should be known that I, Galbert, a notary, though I had no suitable place for writing, set down on tablets a summary o f events; I did this in the midst of such a great tumult and the burning of so many hou ses, set on fire by lighted arro ws shot onto the roofs of the town fro m within the castle (and also by brigands from the outside in the hope of looting) and in the midst of so much danger by night and conflict by day. I had to wait for mo ments of peace du ring the night or day to set in order the present account of events as they happened, and in this way, though in great straits, I transcribed for the faithfu l what you see and read. I have not set down individual deeds because they were so numerous and so intermingled but only noted carefully what was decreed and done by common action throughout the siege, and the reasons for it; and this I have forced myself, almost unwillingly, to commit to writing. Now the ladders were made in this way: at first a wider ladder with rungs was constructed according to the height of the castle walls; to the left and right, green branches, woven tightly together, formed a kind of “wall,” and in front of the lad der a similar “wall” was woven. On this ladder another ladder, lo nger and narrower, and made in a similar way, was superimposed, lying on its side, so that after the erection of the bigger ladder, the small ladder could be slid over the wall of the castle and the woven “walls” to right and left and in front would protect the climbers on all sides.” 2) July 11, 1804 Captain Clark Set out early. Passed a willo w island in a end on the S.S. Back of this island a creek co mes in, called by the Indians Tarkio. I went on shore above this creek and walked up parallel with the river about half a mile d istant. The bottom I found low and subject to overflow. Still further out, the undergrowth and vines were so thick that that I could not get through with ease. After walking about three or four miles, I observed a fresh horse track; where he had been feeding I turned my course to the river and pursued the track, and found him on a sand beach. This horse probably had been left by some party of Ottawas, hunters who wintered or hunted in this quarter last fall or winter. I joined the party on a large sand island immediately opposite the mouth of Nemaha River, at wh ich place they had camped. This island is sand, about half of it covered with small willows of two different kinds, one narrow and the other a broad leaf. Several hunte rs sent out today on both sides of the river. Seven deer killed today—Drouilliard killed six of them. Made some lunar observations this evening. April 15, 1865 Mary Henry 7 P.M. The sad day of excitement is over. The President’s body has been emb almed and lies in state at the White House while the frantic grief of Mrs. Lincoln has settled into an apathetic dejection fro m wh ich it is impossible to arouse her. T he President remained unconscious to the last. The members of the Cabinet, Mrs. & M iss Kinney and Miss Harris surrounded his bed. Dr. Gurley was present & afterwards escorted the bereaved widow to her home. At the request of Mrs. Lincoln, he communicated the mournful intelligence to poor little Tad who was wandering fro m group to group of the sorrowing attendants endeavoring vainly to find out what was the matter. He cried when heard that he was Fatherless were exceed ingly touching. He has been the most constant companion of the President. Johnson has received the oath of office and seems impressed with the dignity and responsibility of his new office. The assassins have not yet been arrested but the evidence if conclusive that Booth a miserable actor and wo rthless vagrant, a Son of the great t ragedian, co mmitted the deed. That is the murder of the President—the stabbing of Mrs. Seward was probably done by an accomplice. M r. Seward is in a crit ical position and has not been informed of the death of the President or of the danger of his son, who was so much in jured by the assassin that very little hope is entertained of his life. The feeling of resentment at the South as instigating in all probability the murder is deep and I fear will entirely replace the feeling of kindness before entertained for the insurgents. The Southerners if they have countenanced the dreadful deed have fatally mistaken the interest of the cause. November 8, 1943 Anne Frank I see the eight of us in the Annex as if we were a patch of b lue sky surrounded by menacing black clouds. The perfect ly round spot on which we’re standing is still safe, but the clouds are moving in on us, and the ring between us and the approaching danger is being pulled tighter and tighter. We’re surrounded by darkness and danger, and in our desperate search for a way out we keep bu mping into each other. We look at fighting down below and the peace and beauty up above. In the meantime, we’ve been cut off by the dark mass of clouds, so that we can go neither up nor down. It looms before us like an impenetrable wall, trying to crush us, but not yet able to. I can only cry out and imp lore, “Oh ring, ring, open wide and let us out!” April 16, 1979 Andy Warhol Did I say that the other night Nureyev was in Elaine’s? I never know what you’re supposed to do there when you see somebody. Be very cool so you don’t bother them? Or should you throw your arms around them because I mean it is great when Diana Ross does it. I d idn’t go to Steve Rubell’s getting out-of-jail party. In the paper it said that while he was in his jail cell he wrote his diary on Studio 54 cards that he had in his pocket. Isn’t that great? He said the cell was disgusting and that the first thing he ’ll fight for is jail reform.
