Clara E. Barrow
“So foolish as to begin a journal...” Clara Elizabeth Barrow wrote on January 6, 1868. Clara lived in northeast Georgia as a child. She writes of practising [sic] choir, spending all afternoon reading, attending private theatricals, and “disgracing herself as an organist” at the Episcopal church. She spends a lot of her time reading and often lists the book or article she read that day, and sometimes gives her review. A clever example of such a review from January 27: “Read a criticism in an old magazine on Emerson’s 'English Traits.' Twas very just.”
You might be surprised by what you can learn about history from diaries. In these books, people often record details about the weather on any given day, the price of goods, farming schedules, holiday traditions, religious rituals, and more. Clara, for example, informs us that a rare occurrence of snowed in Athens, Georgia happened on January 27, 1868.