A Day at a Time: The Diary Literature of American Women from 1764 to the PresentMargo Culley This richly textured portrait of American women reveals the remarkable strengths and resources of ordinary women. Excerpts from twenty-nine diaries include miniatures of the daily life of New England families in the late 1700s, overviews of the great expansion westward, and devastating portraits of the brutal politics of the 1960s and 1970s. The book also contains a bibliography of hundreds of women's diaries. |
Common terms and phrases
African afternoon Alice James anemone lady August Aunt baby Barbara Deming beautiful Brandreth Burnt River called camped Carol Potter cattle child cross daughter dear death diarist diary died door Elizabeth Fannie Fannie Fern father FEBRUARY 17 feel felt Feminist fire Frances Bennett girl hand happy Helen Helen Ward Holyoke hour husband Indians journal journey kind knew last night live look Louis Otto Marie Bashkirtseff marriage married Mary MacLane morning mother mountain Negro never nurse pain passed Pauli poor rain Rebecca Rebecca Jackson River road rocks seemed September sister sleep spun four skeins tell things thought told took my usual train usual walk wagons wait wife window woman women wonder wove write Yankees yards yesterday York young Zete
Popular passages
Page 13 - One of the last things she said to me was to make a correction in the sentence of March 4th "moral discords and nervous horrors." This dictation of March 4th was rushing about in her brain all day, and although she was very weak and it tired her much to dictate, she could not get her head quiet until she had it written : then she was relieved.
Page 8 - The record of a woman's life, written down day by day, without any attempt at concealment, as if no one in the world were ever to read it, yet with the purpose of being read...
Page 3 - It is only relatively recently (roughly in the last one hundred years) that the content of the diary has been a record of private thoughts and feelings to be kept hidden from others