If any of you have ancestors from rural Erie County who kept diaries, this one's for you. ===== Message: 1 Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 18:52:40 -0500 From: Written By Hand...Manuscript Americana P <peter.pehrson@writtenbyhand.com> Subject: [Genealib] QUERY: Cites for rural diaries? To: genealib@mailman.acomp.usf.edu Message-ID: <20050521235240.7C0B67C6C@sm4app04.siteprotect.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hello, Colleagues: For an upcoming Newberry Library (Chicago) Seminar, I seek assistance with citations to published or unpublished sources for my paper entitled, "Rural Diaries as Expressions of Personal Spirituality." Specifically, I am interested in how rural inhabitants (whether on farms or in small towns and villages), conveyed in diaries a sense of piety, reverence, and worship through labor, domestic activities, and other forms of interaction with their social and physical environments, which were often characterized by isolation and literal connections to the land and animals on which they survived. Rural plant and animal husbandry, architecture, crops, and domestic foodways are some ancillary topics. The periods covered are 17th- through 20th centuries, the geographical focus is North America, and the language limitation is English (works translated into English would apply). I'm not including in this examination the work of tract societies or missionaries to American Natives, or established, organized urban denominations. Rural Utopian societies are included. As an example, I am aware of the Oneida Society in upstate New York, as well as Shaker communities in New Lebanon, etc. and would like to know about published or unpublished personal writings from the inhabitants. All of this is with a particular focus on the individual. Citations for existing critical and scholarly examinations of the subject are also welcomed. I'm much obliged for any assistance. Peter Christian Pehrson, Director Written by Hand Primary Source Manuscript Americana Yale Box 206581, New Haven, CT 06520 USA *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-* Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com www.buffaloresearch.com "My heart is moved by all I cannot save: So much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." -Adrienne Rich