Dear Diary...

In keeping with the last few weeks, I have decided to again continue research into the history of book writing.  While I was researching, I had the idea that journal writing must have been an interesting topic in the past; with books and paper so hard to come by, I couldn't imagine that people would just go to the store and buy a blank notebook, so I started to do some digging.  This week's post is the results.

In some ways, journals and diaries (which have become interchangeable over time) are descendants of biographies. As discussed last week, biographies began early in the Christian era, and were generally written by monks or priests, for the intent of converting and persuading non-Christians.  This was the case with Saint Augustine, who was one of the first in the West to write an autobiography.  His Confessions, among others, set the type for Christian biographies for centuries to come.

Another influence that can be seen in diaries is that of accounting records.  Alexandra Johnson contends in her recently-published book, A Brief History of Diaries (see here for a review), that although there were other forms of diaries and written personal histories long before formal accounting ledgers became commonly used, it was the idea of keeping a daily ledger of the smallest details of a business that gave rise to the idea of journalizing personal events on a day to day basis.

Journal and Diary both come from the Latin words Diarium and Diarius, which have the same root, ‘Dia’, meaning day.  Personal journal writing took much longer to become popular than did reading and writing actual books, however at the end of the Middle Ages, as literacy improved and paper-making methods became more efficient all throughout Europe, so too did the popularity of personal journal writing increase.

Some interesting tidbits I found:  

In A Brief History of Diaries, Johnson makes a very interesting claim; she strongly believes that The Book of Margery Kempe, which we discussed briefly in class, must have been based on detailed diaries.  The Book details Margery Kempe’s various travels through the world and especially to the Holy Land, discusses in detail her conversion to God after being severely ill, and is widely considered the first English autobiography.  Because of the details of events that happened years before the book was written, some presume she must have had some kind of diary to help her remember it all.

By the beginning of the Renaissance, page-a-day books were already being produced and sold for both business records and journal entries.  One of the earliest well known diarists was Samuel Pepys, a member of the British Parliament from the 17^th century, kept a daily journal for ten years that is now one of the primary source for our knowledge of that time period in England.  I won't dwell on him, since he's post Renaissance, but if you are interested, there's more on him here, here, and especially here.

Most U.S. Presidents have kept a journal while in office, and many of them have been preserved.

For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, journal writing is particularly important; our first prophet Joseph Smith kept a journal, and subsequent prophets have suggested that members of the Church do the same.  Wilford Woodruff is especially remembered for his dedication to his journal; in his words, he does it because he "feels involved in events of historic, even cosmic, importance." -Wilford Woodruff

So, now, I’ve just gotta ask…….

Are there any journal writers out there?