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a note aboUt the diarY The diary is one of america’s oldest literary forms, and new england Puritans of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries qualify as some of the most avid diarists in history. Many new englanders kept “spiritual journals” intended to help them monitor their religious commitment; the majority of colonial diarists, however, maintained what could be described as “life diaries”—although they were markedly different from the daily journal in common use today. early life diarists were concerned with recording details pertaining to their day-to-day existence, but they were also motivated by the desire to document the ways in which God manifested himself and his messages in the world around them.1 Throughout the seventeenth and even well into the eighteenth century, diaries chronicled the wonders, signs, and portents the colonists commonly perceived in their environment. (a 1666 entry in the diary of boston merchant John hull, for example, enumerates such strange occurrences as a series of loud noises of unknown origin heard in new haven, Connecticut; a man killed by lightning in northampton, Massachusetts; and the birth of several “monsters” among a flock of sheep in narragansett, rhode island.) Unusual happenings were generally understood to carry messages from God, but the Puritans also believed that even the most ordinary developments— changes in the weather, births and deaths in one’s community—could be interpreted as being part of a divine plan. as a result, early diarists focused almost exclusively on external events.2 because of their common purpose, early diaries often displayed striking similarities in both style and content, even though their authors varied in gender, social status, geography, and chronology. For example, most diarists—whether merchants or farmers, tradesmen or housewives—used a plain style of language, according to the Puritan tradition that it was the xxiii xxiv A Note about the Diary most effective in seeking spiritual truth. Their diary entries consequently tend to be brief and are often of a repetitive nature. a typical entry might begin with—and sometimes consist entirely of—a notation about the day’s weather. (in fact, John demos has estimated that meteorology comprised 50 percent of most seventeenth-century diaries.) The 1689 epigraph commencing the diary of the braintree, Massachusetts, stonemason John Marshall could be said to describe the contents of the vast majority of colonial-era diaries: “here is contained in this book some brief memorials of my own business—how i spend my time, what work i do and where, some remarkable providences recorded, and the weather remembered.”3 in their focus on external matters and their fascination with the countless ways in which God revealed himself in the world around them, early new england diarists all but neglected any mention of their inner lives. indeed, one of the most distinctive features of their diaries is the lack of expression of emotion or introspection other than that of a spiritual nature. With few exceptions, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century new englanders avoided committing their innermost thoughts and feelings to their diaries. although the terms “diary” and “journal” have often been used interchangeably —both words derive from a Latin root meaning “daily”—some critics have distinguished between the two forms by the latter’s emphasis on internal rather than external matters and on subjective rather than objective experience. The journal form could be said to have emerged in the late eighteenth century, as a result of the cultural, social, economic, and demographic changes precipitated by the american revolution. as the arts developed in the new nation and the Puritan literary tradition of valuing content over style was replaced by an emphasis on creative expression, americans increasingly began to explore the stylistic potential of diary writing. and as society became more secular and more appreciative of the qualities of the individual, writers began to take advantage of the medium’s opportunities for self-exploration.4 The popularity of diary keeping in early new england was made possible by the colonists’ extremely high level of literacy. Since education—in particular, the ability to familiarize oneself with the scriptures—was considered vital to the well-being of Puritan society, new england settlers early on passed legislation calling for the establishment of public schools. The ability to read was nearly universal among free whites in colonial new england; however, the skill of writing did not become widespread until the late eighteenth century . Women, in particular, lacked writing skills. because of their limited free [3.146.255.127] Project...

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