Louisa J. Pratt pocket diary (Addition 35) 2024-0058, 1859

Containers:
Box 10, Folder 4
Creator:
Whitmore Rare Books
Extent:
0.04 Cubic Feet One legal size folder
Scope and content:

This addition to MSS 16758, The University of Virginia Collection on the History of Childhood, Parenting, and Family Building, contains a small pocket diary with ownership signature of "Louisa J. Pratt, New Paltz Landing, New York to front endpaper with an early 20th-century hand adding to pastedown and endpaper, "born 1846" and "13 years old."

The diary contains 366 pages in legible hand. It focuses on the many losses she experiences across 1859 and her youthful awakening to the numerous hardships the women around her confront. From parental loss to poverty to disease to mental health emergencies, the events of Louisa's 13th year were formative, and she turned to her diary as a place for working out private emotions that burdened her.

Louisa balances school, friends, and church with an increasing oversight of her home. More detail is given as the family continues struggling to keep domestic workers, and it is hinted that Mr. Pratt and the members of the church are drawing labor from girls pulled from the sex trade. Unprepared for the situations they find themselves in, the girls act out, have mental health crises, and ultimately flee which are documented by Louisa.

While grief, loss, and unexpected adulthood shape much of Louisa's year, she also reports the kinds of joys that remind us she is entering her teens. Her numerous friends, her love for sleigh rides and horseback riding, her appreciation for school and her recitations are cornerstones.

Language:
English

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
170 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Special Collections Public Services & Reference Staff
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Parent restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Parent terms of access:
This collections contains some in-copyright material. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page (https://library.virginia.edu/special-collections/services/publising). For more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can contain copyright material on request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collection materials.
Preferred citation:

MSS 16758,The University of Virginia Collection on the History of Childhood, Parenting, and Family Building Addition 35, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.