Journal / Diary
A journal or diary is a private, contemporaneous account of the happenings in the author’s life, as well as the author’s feelings, opinions, and innermost thoughts. Journals and diaries may have daily observations, or they may have more irregular entries.
Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut (1823-1886) was a prominent woman from South Carolina. Her husband, James Chesnut, was a U.S. Senator before the Civil War. Well-educated, intelligent, and well-connected, Mary understood, as the Civil War began, she had a front row seat to a historic moment in history. She began recording…
In 1842 Charles Dickens was probably the most famous English language author in the world. He was received around the world as a major celebrity, often mobbed by fans. It was in that year that Dickens visited the United States. He wrote and published his thoughts about his visit in…
John Muir was one of the foremost American conservationists. In 1869 he went with a group of shepherds who were taking a flock of sheep to summer pasture in the Sierra Nevada mountains. In this passage, the shepherds try to get the sheep to cross a river. The man named…
The Klondike Gold Rush began in 1896 with the discovery of gold in Alaska and Canada. Over 100,000 people hurried to the area in order to find their own fortune of gold. One of these people was May Kellogg Sullivan, who along with her brother and father, went to get…
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was a noted American writer, philosopher, and essayist. His 1854 book, Walden, explores his experiment in living a simplified life in the woods as a way to explore his inner self. He lived in the woods for two years. This passage reflects upon his selection of…
Famed naturalist John Muir went with a group of shepherds into the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1869. The shepherds were taking their flock to summer pasture. It was Muir’s first trip into these mountains, and he would return many more times. This passage is from his diary of the trip.…
Robert Louis Stevenson was a famous author of adventure novels. In one of his nonfiction travel books, he writes about his trip to the United states. In this passage, he tells of his meeting with a railroad newsboy. At that time, a newsboy was a boy who traveled on a…
Robert Louis Stevenson, a native of Scotland, took a train trip from New York to San Francisco in 1879. This is from the beginning of his trip. —————————————————– Tuesday.-When I awoke, it was already day; the train was standing idle; I was in the last carriage, and, seeing some others…
John Muir was a famous naturalist who would later organize the Sierra Club as a conservation organization. Prior to his fame, Muir went to California and was hired for the summer to travel with shepherds and their flock to pasture in the Sierra Nevada mountains. He kepy a diary of…
Robert Louis Stevens was a Scottish author, famous for his novels Kidnapped and Treasure Island. In 1879 he took a trip across the U.S. In this passage he talks about crossing the plains of Nebraska on the train. —————————— It had thundered on the Friday night, but the sun rose…