General Resource Sites

• Ancestry.com - Diaries and Letters of Our Ancestors 
  Article by Laura G. Prescott.
• Diaries, Memoirs, Letters and Reports Along The Trails West 
• eBay Listings: Family Letters 
  Online auction service for buying & selling.
• Past Voices: Letters Home 
  Free genealogical and historical collection of vintage letters. These are letters written to and from soldiers and everyday people. Find your ancestors, build your family tree, submit a letter, or read helpful articles.
  • List of USA Letters. 
• The Personal Life Diary 
  A 70-year diary that can become a family heirloom.
• The Postcard Index 
  Tens of thousands of picture postcards dated between 1900 - 1950, indexed by the recipient's name and address.
• What to Do with a Diary You Have Found 
  From DoHistory. If you are lucky enough to find an old diary, here are some tips for what you could do next.
• The Wonderful World of Manuscripts 
  Article by Timothy G. X. Salls.

Libraries, Archives & Museums

• Arxiu de la Memòria Popular  ~ Spain
• Augustana College Library - Special Collections 
  • Civil War Diaries 
• Deutsches Tagebucharchiv e.V.  ~ Germany
• Documenting the American South: First Person Narratives of the American South 
  From the Academic Affairs Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Text from diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, travel accounts, and ex-slave narratives of relatively inaccessible populations: women, African Americans, enlisted men, laborers, and Native Americans.
• Fondazione Archivio Diaristico Nazionale  ~ Pieve Santo Stefano, Italy
  Italian national diary archives.
• SCETI: Women's Studies 
  From the University of Pennsylvania Library / Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image
  • Manuscript Diaries of Grace Gilchrist Frend, 1907-1941 
  • Manuscript Diary of Elizabeth Cowperthwaite, 1857-1858 
  • Manuscript Diary of Fanny Ruschenberger, 1858-1881 
  • Manuscript Diary of Margaret A. Eadie, 1901-1909 
  • Manuscript Diary of Margaret T. Spaulding, 1870 
  • Manuscript Diary of Susan Sherman, 1850-1851 
• Suomen Elämäntarina-akatemia  ~ Kärsämäki, Finland
  Finnish Life Story Academy.
• Valley of the Shadow - Letters & Diaries 
  Features people who lived in Augusta County, Virginia and Franklin County, Pennsylvania before, during and after the U.S. Civil War.

Locality Specific

• 1862 diary excerpt of Andrew Somerville, second registrar of Huntingdon County, Quebec 
• Association pour l'autobiographie et le patrimoine autobiographique (APA)  ~ France
• Index to Missing People Found in Victoria Police Correspondence Records 
  An index of letters sent to the Police department in Victoria, Australia seeking assistance in contacting missing people. The letters came from all over the world and date from 1853 to 1930.
• John Osborn Diaries, Union County, NC, 1800-1802 & 1819-1821 
• Letters From America To Preston, England 
  Referencing the POTTER, CLARKE, BIMSON and WHINFIELD families 1852 - 1887. The letters were written by Bimson and Clarke family members in Adams county, Illinois, to their loved ones in England. They contain interesting information about living conditions and events in Adams County during those early years.
• Letters from Forgotten Ancestors 
  A Tennessee Genealogy History Project.
• Maine Diaries 
  Maine Diary Directory and letters from a Maine man in the 1849 CA Gold Rush.
• OKBits - Old Family Letters 
  Letters from early day Oklahoma and Indian Territories and shortly after statehood in 1907.
• Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters 
  Digital collection integrates two collections from the holdings of the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Solomon D. Butcher photographs and the letters of the Uriah W. Oblinger family. Together they illustrate the story of settlement on the Great Plains.
• SDGenWeb Pioneer Letters 
  Letters written by South Dakota pioneers in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869 
  A collection of the original writings of 49 voyagers on the Mormon, California, Oregon, and Montana trails.
• Wake County Diaries  ~ North Carolina

Military

• Aquilla Standifird's Civil War Diary 
  Company D, 23rd Iowa.
• Augustana College Library - Special Collections 
  • Civil War Diaries 
• Bits of Blue and Gray December 2003 - D. E. BUCKINGHAM to John McCORMICK 
  A letter written home to a father informing him of the death of his son.
• Christopher Vail's Journal (1775-1782) 
  An account of Christopher Vail's experience during the American Revolution.
• The Civil War Diaries of Mifflin Jennings, 11th Iowa Infantry by Ron Smith 
  Civil War diary of First Sgt. Mifflin Jennings, Co. C, 11th Iowa Volunteer Infantry regiment, of the famed Iowa Brigade.
• Civil War Diaries of Wentworth DOW # (1829-1904), Pvt, Co E 16th Regt Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers (Adams County Rifles) 
  Reproduced original diary pages and transcription with extensive supplemental information about the people, places and events described, military records and genealogical connections of people mentioned.
• Civil War Diary of Bingham Findley JUNKIN, 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry ("Roundheads") 
• The Civil War Diary of E.B. ROOT 
• Civil War Diary of Elias D. MOORE 114th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Co. A 
• Civil War Journal of Herbert E. COTES of New Woodstock, Madison County, NY 
  Apr 19, 1862–Sept 16, 1862, Eighth Regiment Kansas Volunteers - Company I.
• Civil War Journal of James B. LOCKNEY, Wisconsin 28th Regmt., Co. G 
  
• Civil War Letter Collection of First Lieutenant Rufus Ricksecker, 126th OVI, Part I 
  A collection of 30 letters written between October 12, 1862 and September 18, 1864. Rufus Ricksecker was killed on September 19, 1864 at the Battle of Opequan (Third Winchester).
• The Civil War Letters of Fannie AUSTIN 
  This collection of 13 letters saved by Fannie Austin (a 19th century English immigrant to America) during the Civil War era include those received from her husband, brother, and uncle who were all Civil War soldiers from Oneida County, New York (26th NYI and 14th NYHA). The letters and several miscellaneous photos were discovered in 1974 during a remodeling project to a home in Clinton, New York.
• Civil War letters of the "Blountsville Boys", Henry, County, Indiana 
  Many were written by Allen Wesley Galyean.
• Civil War: Iowa Volunteers 
  Including excerpts from a Civil War diary and letters.
• December 2002 - Civil War Christmas 
  A look into how Christmas was probably spent by soldiers and their families at home. Letters and excerpts from letters included.
• Diaries and Letters 
  Links to Civil War diaries and letters online.
• Diary of Mexican-American War: Elias F. HINEY 
  Elias Hiney served in Company B, First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers from December 15, 1846 through July 27, 1848 and kept a diary through his entire term of service.
• The Diary of 2nd Lieut. Robert Peyton HAMILTON - 1915 
  The diary of Robert Peyton HAMILTON written from 1st January 1915 until his death in September the same year. Details of training and trench warfare.
• The Emily Project 
  A 1932 diary found in a Vermont flea market led it's new owner on a search for the identity of the writer. Read the diary and learn how the mystery was solved.
• Evacuation- The Diary of One Man's Experience 
  The diary of Edwin Richard George QUITTENTON in Northern France during 1940.
• The FREEMAN Diary 
  Civil War diary of John Henderson Freeman of Company I of the 34th Mississippi Volunteers, Walthall's Brigade, Gen'l Bragg's Army, CSA.
• Illinois Greyhounds 
  Diary of Henry KETZLE of Company A in the 37th Illinois Infantry from July 1861 through May 1866.
• Letter from Sergeant Joseph Fisher, Company A, 126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry 
  This letter was written on November 3, 1862 from Camp McCook, Cumberland, Maryland. It describes the wonder a rural Ohio farmboy feels on his first trip into the mountains with his Regiment. Joseph Fisher was eventually lost at the Wilderness, May 6, 1864.
• Letters, Diaries, Reminiscences, and Manuscripts of New York Soldiers and Nurses 
• Letters from an Iowa Soldier in the Civil War 
  Part of a collection written by Newton Robert SCOTT, Private, Company A, of the 36th Infantry, Iowa Volunteers to Hannah CONE, his friend and later his wife.
• Letters from J.K. STREET to his wife Ninnie, (Melinda Elizabeth PACE STREET) during the Civil War 
  His letters are written in diary style and tell of his day to day life in the 9th Texas Infantry, Co A. from Paris, Lamar Co., Texas.
• Letters of the Civil War 
  A compilation of letters from the soldiers, sailors, nurses, politicians, ministers and journalists from the newspapers of the cities and towns of Massachusetts, April 1861-December 1865.
• Letters written by Private Justus G. MATTESON during the Civil War 
  MATTESON & HATCH surnames. Cortland County, New York.
• The Memoirs, Diary, and Life of Private Jefferson Moses,Company G, 93rd Illinois Volunteers 
• A Michigan Civil War Physician's Diary 
  Excerpts from Dr. Cyrus Bacon's diary.
• More Letters to Share from Levi McCormick 
  Letters written during the Civil War to and from Levi McCormick, 4th DE Regiment. Also included is the Gettysburg Address.
• "My Dear Wife" 
  These letters are from the book "MY DEAR WIFE" - The Civil War Letters of Private Samuel Pepper. Company G - 95th Illinois Infantry 1862 to 1865. Transcribed and edited by Franklin R. Crawford. Samuel's wife Mary Jane kept all of Samuel's letters (about 140 of them) from the war and saw to it that one of the children kept them also. The letters eventually came into the possession Mr. Emmett Sullivan & Miss Bessie Sullivan who, in their later years, passed them on to the editor with the hope that they would eventually be published for all to read.
• Pennsylvania Volunteers of the Civil War - Personal Civil War History 
  Diaries and regimental histories written by Pennsylvania Civil War soldiers.
• Pennsylvania Volunteers of the Spanish-American War 1898-1899 - The Diary of John Henry Asendorf 
• Samuel J. BRADLEE'S Civil War Letters 
  This site is a collection of letters from a Massachusetts artillery officer to his wife in Boston.
• Valley of the Shadow - Letters & Diaries 
  Features people who lived in Augusta County, Virginia and Franklin County, Pennsylvania before, during and after the U.S. Civil War.
• The Wartime Diary of John WEATHERED 
  Civil War Diary of John Weathered who served in the 9th Tennessee Confederate Cavalry.
• Women's Civil War Diaries and Papers - Locations 
• World War One Canada - Letters and War Diaries 
  An interest in genealogy led to the discovery of family members who participated in the Great War. Information from War Diaries on the 12th Canadian Machine Gun Company, a photo gallery and Canadian WW1 letters written to the STOTHERS family are available.
• Yahoo!...Civil War: Documents: Personal Accounts 
  Diaries and letters.

People & Families

• 1862 Diary of Isaac HURLBURT 
  Fully transcribed 1862 diary of Isaac Hurlburt of Broome County, New York.
• Absecon Diary of Margie ROTH, 1933-37 
  Margie Roth wrote her diary during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
• BACHELDER Family in Canada 
  Diary of Jethro BACHELDER of Rougemont in the Eastern Townships of Quebec province in Canada. Personal recollections of life and family from 1840 to 1930 including early settlers of the region and his adventures on the Oregon Trail.
• Barry to Buenos Aires - 1913 
  The diary of Doris Kathleen Spicer on her trip in 1913 from Barry, Wales, UK to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• Civil War Letter from Martin Van Buren Keller to John Bricker of Lititz, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 
• Clarissa Stoddart GOOCH's Diary 1831-32 
  Clarissa Gooch's diary is an account of her removal with her sister's family from London to Cincinatti, OH, in 1831-32. They traveled by ship to New York City, across New York State on sleighs, and down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers to Cincinatti on a flat-boat.
• A Collection of Letters from William Edward Short to His Sister Ann 
  Eleven letters written by William Edward Short, of the 29th Mass, during the Civil War, to his sister Ann.
• Diary of Archibald Little HAGER from 1844-1887 
  Recorded daily events in Perry County, Missouri, including births, marriages, and deaths from 1844-1887.
• The Diary of Celia L.E.C. PEEBLES BAILEY 
  The Diary of Celia L.E.C. Peebles Bailey, wife of William R. Bailey. Diary Entries from 16 February 1851 to 14 July 1851, with Trading Post Journal Entries from 21 January 1835 to 2 May 1844. William R. and Celia L. E. C. Peebles Bailey were one of the first families to settle in Old Choctaw County, Mississippi, in the 1830's.
• The Diary of Clinton Harrison MOORE 
  Diary of travel from McNairy County, Tennessee to the Republic of Texas in 1839. MOORE, ROBINSON, MARTIN, BARTON, KIZER.
• Diary of Hannah Walton SANDERS, Feb. 5, 1806 - Nov. 28, 1876 
  Among surnames mentioned are: CURRAN, FLOYD, FOSTER, FULTON, GRAHAM, JACKSON, KINCANNON, NEWELL, SANDERS, TRIGG.
• The Diary of "Honest" John MARTIN 
  Transcribed portions of John MArtin's Diary, comprising six volumes. Includes accounts of his exile to Tasmania as well as his later service as MP.
• Diary of Joseph Beaman OVIATT 
  Winter of 1847-1848, Keating Township, McKean County, PA.
• Diary of William S. PURGITT, 1865 - of New Creek (Keyser), West Virginia 
• Evacuation- The Diary of One Man's Experience 
  The diary of Edwin Richard George QUITTENTON in Northern France during 1940.
• The Immigration Diary of Michael Friedrich RADKE, 1848 
  "This diary is presented to help us understand why families wished to leave Prussia / Germany, to emigrate to America or Australia, in the 1840's."
• Ingeborg Brigitte Gastel - Diaries 
• The James HARSHAW Diary Site 
  A description of the James HARSHAW Diaries and of people of Counties Down and Armagh in the mid-1800s. Also includes an account of John MARTIN, Young Irelander.
• John Stoner BEIDLER 1865 Diary 
• Joseph Mitchell HOLDER - Bio and Letter 
  Written by Joseph Mitchell Holder and originally published in the Dallas News Semi-Weekly dated July 16, 1913.
• Letter from Adeline WINN of Concord, Massachusetts 
  Written to Mary Dulin (Jenners) Braden of Clinton Co., Indiana March 2, 1831.
• Letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Braden of Waterford, VA 
  To Burr & Mary Braden of Lafayette, IN 21 June 1830.
• Letter from Silas Holloway WOOD, who lived in Pontotoc Co., MS to his brother Thomas J. Wood of MS - 1894 
  Letter gives bible records, and some other history on the WOOD family.
• Letters to Sarah Elizabeth (OVERDORF) SMITH 
• Madison County Letters© - Index 
  George Churchill letters. George Churchill was born Oct. 11, 1789, in Glastonbury, Connecticut, to Jesse Churchill and Hannah Boardman. He died in Troy Aug. 11, 1872.
• Memoirs of the NOHL Family Trip Diary of Friedrich Nohl 
• The Partial* Diary of "Honest" John Martin Young Irelander 1812-1875 Co. Down, Ireland 
  Portions of the diary of John Martin, who was sentenced to Van Diemen's land charged with treason for fighting for home rule in the 1800's. Accounts of his voyage, conversations with John Mitchel, etc.
• Samuel Hervey LAUGHLIN Diary 
  Account of his LAUGHLIN and DUNCAN or DUNKIN ancestors. Written in 1845.
• Thomas Scott's Diary 
  The Diary of Thomas SCOTT of Dalkeith. His voyage to Australia on the ship "Skelton" From 13th June to 27th November 1820 including passenger List.
• A Victorian Lady's Trip to Europe - Summer 1914 

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