Online Diaries: Transformation of Medium and Meaning - 19th Century: Becoming privatized

During the nineteenth century, diaries began to transition into private documents, but they were still used in a similar fashion to blogs as communication and critiquing tools. Parents often promoted journal-keeping through giving their children blank books, so writing in diaries was often a somewhat forced endeavor. As historicist Jean Carr says, diaries “were never fully private, since such materials were read, sometimes edited, and often expressively sent to parents or teachers" (Carr, 53). Again, comments were made in the margins by teachers, and these blank book journals served the dual purpose of giving the children freedom of expression while also providing the diarists with advice and instruction from the parents or teachers (Carr, 53). For example, Ralph Waldo Emerson encouraged his daughter, Ellen Emerson, to write entries to him. She was open and honest with her emotions, while he critiqued her spelling and her tastes; in other words, through the diary, the father-daughter bond grew and Ellen’s writing ability also improved (Carr, 53-54).

To summarize, as tools of communication, bonding, learning, and self-exploration, diaries during the nineteenth century were much more similar to the public diaries of the eighteenth century or today than what they evolved into during the twentieth century.

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