History and the Writing of the Self : Diaries and Diary-keepers

Diary-keeping is a practice that can take many shapes and forms, not only through time but also through the methods used to create and maintain them.

Examining diaries written from the 19th to the 21st century in Britain, France, Canada, USA, India and colonial Bengal, History and the Writing of the Self analyses them as historical objects of study, explores the issues they raise for the historian, and the insights they can offer like no other historical source can.

Seeking to reclaim diaries not as a ‘lesser’ type of historical source, the chapters in this volume demonstrate their value and indeed historiographical necessity in fields including social history, gender history and material culture. Exploring themes such as homosexuality, political participation, collective and individual memory, identity, emotion and business, this book highlights the wealth of insights that diaries can offer into ordinary lives and private thoughts. Arguing that diaries are not specific and individual, but can enrich and contribute to historical study of group experiences, this book identifies processes at the heart of diary-keeping to understand how to employ them as historical sources.