The Power of My Pen to Describe: Ten American Diaries, 1750-1900

The Power of my Pen to Describe is a digital exhibit highlighting ten unpublished American manuscript diaries from the holdings in Rare Books and Special Collections, Hesburgh Libraries of Notre Dame. All the manuscripts featured in the exhibit have been acquired by the Libraries over the past fifteen years, as part of a collecting initiative aimed at allowing advanced undergraduates in History, American Studies, English, and other disciplines the experience of working with previously unexamined primary source narratives. The present exhibit is based on a show of the same name held in RBSC, September to December 2014. Viewers of the digital showcases dedicated to each of the ten diaries may proceed to consult images of the entire manuscripts, located on the RBSC website.

Each diary is unique, with a unique voice. Among the items included in the exhibit are narratives written by soldiers in King George’s War, the Mexican-American War, and the Civil War; by travellers on the Oregon Trail and the European Grand Tour; by a Washington socialite and a young Massachusetts textile factory worker. All, if read aright, can assist in our understanding of America’s past.

View the collection here.

September 30, 2014

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