This collection brings together the personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, displayed as high-quality images of the original manuscripts. Semantically Indexed and online for the first time. The collection is drawn entirely from the extensive holdings of the American Antiquarian Society. Highlights include:
Thousands of letters and diary entries from less well known women vividly document even the smallest details of their lives and shed light on the roles women played within their families, their communities, and the social and political movements of their times. In many cases, we also include the replies, from both men and women, placing the letters in their full context. Detailed biographical notes illuminate the lives of the authors, including multigenerational details, as exemplified in the letters and diaries of three generations of women within the same family.
The writings in Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries are by women from New England families, but this is by no means a “New England collection.” The women wrote from the many places throughout the US in which they lived, traveled, worked, studied, and observed the lives and historical events around them—including John Brown’s raid, the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, numerous wars, and:
Other topics include female education and intellectual development, medical conditions, religious life, and domestic work, including Anna Quincy Thaxter Cushing’s 36-year diary documenting her literary interests, the education of her daughters, and her minutely detailed descriptions of housework; Catharine Flint’s 1860–1867 “household notebook,” in which she kept careful track of the tasks performed by her domestic servants; and Lizzie Wilson Goodenough’s documentation of the life of a servant in Brattleboro, Vermont. ("Mine is a hard & lonely life day after day comes and brings its work. It seems my life is made up of nothing but long days for nothing but work…for others.")
Each letter and diary entry is indexed using Alexander Street’s Semantic Indexing, allowing researchers to identify and locate content in ways never before possible, with pinpoint searching possible to the level of the individual letter and passage. Search by the type of document, date and place written, where sent; the writer’s age, occupation, date and place of birth, date and place of death, marital status, maternal status, religion; and other search entry points, such as historical event. The letters and diaries are displayed as images of the manuscripts, giving users access not only to the women’s words, but also to details revealed by the physical documents themselves.
Content Types: diaries, ephemera, essays, letters, periodicals, photographs, speeches, and more.
Themes: children, death, domestic life, education, entertainment industry, family, friendships, medical conditions, personal finances, poetry, religion, travel, and more.
Historical Events: American Revolution, Boston Tea Party, draft riots, Mexican-American War, Napoleonic Wars, U.S. Civil War, U.S. Reconstruction, War of 1812, World War I, and more.
Annie Sullivan Letters: Anne Mansfield "Annie" Sullivan became the teacher of Helen Keller in 1887 upon the recommendation of Michael Anagnos, director of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind in South Boston, Massachusetts, from which Miss Sullivan had recently graduated. The letters in this collection were written by Miss Sullivan to Mr. Anagnos between 1887 and 1902 and provide much information relative to Helen Keller's progress in reading, writing, and speaking during her early life in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Included are details of methods used to educate her; the publication of her first stories; and many remarks on troubling aspects of Helen's home life, such as her mother's inadequacies and her father's financial difficulties.
Ellen Tucker Emerson Letters, 1863-1865: Ellen Tucker Emerson (1839-1909) was the eldest surviving child of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Lidian Jackson Emerson. This collection contains one hundred letters all written by Ellen Tucker Emerson to family and friends. Most of the letters were written from Concord, Massachusetts, and in lively prose detail Ellen’s life in the Emerson household and in the wider Concord community. She mostly writes about her visits with her Aunt Ripley, studies, labor, recreational activities such as skating on Waldon Pond, weddings, and joining the Soldier’s Aid sewing circle during the Civil War.
Patty Rogers Diary: In her 1785 diary, Martha "Patty" Rogers (1761-1840) recorded her intimate thoughts and daily activities, expressing her concern and frustration over having to care for her sickly father and describing in detail her active social life, which included two romances. When her first suitor, the Reverend William Woodbridge. married another, Patty found solace—however briefly—with Dr. Samuel Tenney until he married Tabitha Gilman, who later became well known as a novelist.
Gale Family Papers, 1818-1851: Hannah ("Anna") Davis Gale (1818-1851) and her brother Frederick William Gale (1816-1854) were born in Northborough, Massachusetts, the children of Captain Cyrus Gale and Eliza Davis Gale. This collection consists of letters written by or to Anna and Frederick, as well as a journal kept by Anna while a student at the Greene Street School. The letters are significant for their descriptions of Worcester social life, school days, and family affairs. One letter, dated 12 August 1834, concerns a nativist-inspired attack upon a convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The journal includes detailed impressions of Anna's teacher, Margaret Fuller.
Taintor-Davis Family Papers, 1763-1917: Browse through annotated post cards collected by Mary Ellen Taintor Davis for Roger Wolcott Davis and Family in the Taintor-Davis Family Papers. This collection spans four generations and includes correspondence on farming, relationships, and recipes from the 19th century.
