COLLECTION GUIDES

1635-1790

Guide to the Microfilm Edition


Collection Summary

Title: Pre-Revolutionary diaries at the Massachusetts Historical Society
Dates: 1635-1790
Physical Description: 13 microfilm reels
Microfilm Call Number: P-363
Repository:
Massachusetts Historical Society
1154 Boylston StreetBoston, MA 02215library@masshist.org

Abstract

This microfilm edition consists of colonial diaries, logbooks, and orderly books compiled from manuscript collections at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Collection Description

This microfilm edition of pre-Revolutionary era diaries consists of 276 diaries written by 112 individuals from 1635 to 1790 and provides a rich and authentic portrait of incidents, manners, customs, and details of life in pre-Revolutionary America. The collection contains the diaries of a broad range of individuals, from farmers and businessmen to clergymen, soldiers, students, and physicians.

The diaries are arranged alphabetically, by author, on reels 1-11, followed by a reel of logbooks (reel 12) and a reel of orderly books (reel 13), also arranged alphabetically. Dates given for individual diaries, logbooks, etc., are terminal dates of entire volumes from earliest to latest entry. No effort has been made to identify omissions within these dates or to distinguish between such terms as "diary" or "journal"; regular or sporadic notations of personal, professional, or job-related entries are included. Many of the diaries were bound into interleaved almanacs.

Omitted from this microfilm edition, although a part of the MHS collections, are diaries and journals readily available in published format, for example the diaries of Cotton Mather, Samuel Sewall, and John Winthrop.

Back to Top

Acquisition Information

The items in this collection were acquired through a combination of gifts and purchases.

Back to Top

Other Formats

Black and white digital images of this collection--produced from the microfilm edition--are available as part of History Vault: Revolutionary War and Early America, a digital resource from ProQuest. This resource is available at subscribing libraries; speak to your local librarian to determine if your library has access. The MHS also provides access onsite to the Society's contributions to this resource; see a reference librarian for more information.

Back to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Expand all
Back to Top

Chronological Index

Expand all
Back to Top

Occupation Index

Expand all
Back to Top

Preferred Citation

Pre-Revolutionary diaries microfilm, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Back to Top

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Subjects:

Logbooks.
Massachusetts--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.
Orderly books.
United States--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.
United States--History--French and Indian War, 1755-1763--Order-books.

Prepared by Patrick B. Flynn, 1988, revised 1992, March 2002.

Encoded by Susan Martin, August 2006

Click the description headings to expand their contents, and click the red REQUEST buttons to add items to your request.

Click here to cancel