Diaries and Journals
Diaries and Journals are considered primary sources as they are firsthand accounts and written
during an historical time.
They provide a firsthand perspective on history. They also provide a unique perspective as well.
In evaluating primary sources we must consider the author’s point of view, biases, and
motivations.
Pick either Choice 1, or Choice 2,
Answer the following questions for the topic you picked:
1) List your choice #, name of the source and the dates (Choice 2) or page numbers
(Kemble) of your diary selection
2) Write a summary of what happened for the entries your read. What is the context?
3) What did you find most interesting? Give specific examples with a minimum of 2
different examples
4) How did reading the diary or the journal increase your knowledge of life at the time of
your journal? Use specific examples from the diary or journal. Do not use an example
you previously used.
5) A) How does reading a primary source (the diary or journal) compare to reading about
the topic in a secondary source? Use details to back what you write. B) What was gained
in your opinion from reading the first-hand account? Use an example from the source you
picked to explain what you gained
6) How did reading the journal increase your understanding of America today?
7) If you picked Ballard and Kemble- do you think the lives of Ballard or Kemble
challenged the culture of domesticity prevalent at that time? Why or why not and give an
example
Guidelines
Only use the sources in this assignment
Be thorough and write an in-depth analysis and description
No outside research
List word count at the end of your assignment
425-word minimum
Do not embed images or photos
You can number your responses but do not repeat the questions
Use different examples from the primary source in response to each question
Upload your file as a PDF or Word doc.
Choose a diary entry section from Fannie Kemble’s diary. Read at least 4 pages of the diary
1838-1839.
Use any consecutive pages starting at page 18 to page 156.

https://archive.org/details/journalofresiden00kemb…

Fannie Kemble was a British actress who came to the US. She met her soon to be husband Pierce
Butler when she was performing in the US. He was the grandson of US Senator Pierce Butler
from South Carolina. Pierce who lived in Philadelphia inherited two plantations in Georgia, one
grew cotton and one grew rice with the plantations he inherited 638 slaves. Unusual for women
in her day, she spoke her mind, was assertive, and knew politics. Because of her personality and
because she was antislavery their marriage was shaky from the start. Fannie hoped by visiting the
plantations she could persuade Pierce to emancipate his slaves. She visited both plantations for 4
months in 1838 taking her 2 children and nurse with her. The diary she wrote while there is the
most detailed account of slavery from a white northern abolitionist. She was able to win the trust
of the slave women, so her account of their lives is an important and rare historical source on the
lives and feelings of slave women. He divorced her in 1849 and she had to work as an actress
and writer to support herself and her 2 children. During the war she published the journal of life
on a Georgia plantation while living in England. White southerners continued to discredit her
account into the 20th century.

Choice 2 Journals of Lewis and Clark https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/journals/con…

Lewis started down the Ohio River in 1803 summer and picked up William Clark in Indiana

where they began to recruit others for the expedition. They set out in May 1804 with 40 others.
They both wrote in detail in journals and when they returned to St. Louis the journals were
transcribed and bound into other books.
They returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806.
Choose 3 days from the journals. Choose dates with at least 3 entries.
You can pick any year.
Write about both Lewis and Clark and you can use any other entries for that date as well.

This is an interactive expedition map: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/on…