Women Diarists with Betsy Rubiner

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Chronicles, confidantes, confessionals. Diaries have historically served all these purposes and more, allowing women to speak out in a world that sometimes preferred they keep mum (just ask Mrs. Samuel Pepys). But where should these very personal recollections end up once the lives they document cease? We explore the options this week with author Betsy Rubiner, whose new book Our Diaries, Ourselves explores the phenomenon of diary-writing and its importance. Along the way, we’ll explore some of the “lost lady” diarists whose private records are worth reading.

Mentioned in this episode:

Lost Ladies of Lit “Become A Patron”

Our Diaries, Ourselves: How Diarists Chronicle Their Lives and Document Our World by Betsy Rubiner

The Diary of Anne Frank

The Diary of Samuel Pepys

James Boswell’s London Journal

 The Extraordinary Work of Ordinary Writing by Jennifer Sinor. 

Anais Nin

Virginia Woolf

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

The American Diary Project

 A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785 to 1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

 The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

The Diary of Anne Lister

“Gentleman Jack”

 Emilie Davis' Civil War: The Diaries of a Free Black Woman in Philadelphia 1863 to 1865 edited by Judith Geisbert 

 Notes from a Colored Girl: The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie Francis Davis by Karsonya Wise Whitehead.

 The Reconstruction Diary of Frances Anne Rollin edited by Jennifer Putzi

 Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution: A History from Below by Jane Kamensky 

 Secret Voices: A Year of Women's Diaries edited by Sarah Gristwood. 

 The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World’s Greatest Diaristsedited by Irene and Alan Taylor

 The Diaries of Girls and Women: A Midwestern Sampler edited by Suzanne L. Bunkers.

 A Day at a Time: The Diary Literature of American Women From 1764 to Present edited by Margo Culley

 Revelations: Diaries of Women edited by Mary Jane Moffat and Charlotte Painter

 Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women edited by Patricia Bell-Scott

 We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the 19th Centuryedited by Dorothy Sterling

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