¶ 244 DIARIES AND
JOURNALS
The diary or journal derives its chief merit as a
historical source from the circumstance that at least in theory it is a record
of personal experiences and external happenings made on the same day on which
they occurred. The contemporaneousness of the diarists’ record goes a long way
to guarantee its accuracy. Sometimes gaps which are allowed to occur in diaries
are later filled in from recollections or other sources, a procedure which is a
species of deception if the reader is left under the impression that these
entries were made on the dates to which they are assigned.
The various criteria to be employed in appraising the
credibility of any form of human record are also applicable to the diary. It
has been said, that “no one lies more boldly than to himself.” As in the case
of autobiography and memoirs, the distinctly personal character of the diary or
journal renders it peculiarly liable to a subjectivism that is at cross
purposes with the simple truth. But this is only to abuse a legitimate medium
of expression. Given a competent and conscious diarist, there is no reason why
his product should not measure up to the requirements of accurate, objective
record.
¶ 245 Two types of diary are distinguishable, the intimate
or introspective (journal intime), and the factual or objective.
The intimate diary is a self-revelation of inner mental and moral states, of
the thoughts, fancies, emotions of the writer. It can interest the general
reader; it can also be an aid to the historian, the biographer, and the
psychologist. The factual diary can likewise be self-revealing, but in most
cases only indirectly; it eschews in the main any expression of personal
thought and feeling, and records for the most part only external happenings.
The Washington diaries are a pertinent example. They afford little insight into
the workings of the author’s mind, for they consist largely of data about the
weather, crops, visitors to Mount Vernon, and other more or less relatively
unimportant matters. Yet indirectly they are a witness to Washington’s
methodical habits, business instincts, preoccupation with material things,
steadiness and strength of will. Few things test volitional power more than the
keeping of a daily journal.
To the social historian, the elements of value in a diary
usually fall into one or the other of two categories: object contributions,
such as firsthand descriptions and illustrations of conditions and customs of
the time; subjective contributions, revealing the philosophy, the ideals, the
soul of the writer. The latter element is particularly valuable when the writer
may be regarded as either typical or a large group, or a leader of
influence.—L. G. Van der Velde, “The Diary of George Daffield,” MVHR, 24
(1937): 25.
¶ 246 Students of history soon come to know how useful
diary entries often are in fixing unknown or doubtful dates. Further, such
entries furnish in many cases conclusive, firsthand evidence for happenings of
questionable historicity, or for data left obscure in some of their
circumstances.
A contemporary journal discovered in 1925, in the
Archives Nationales, Paris, seemingly the work of a French government agent,
contains a reference to Patrick Henry’s famous “treason speech” in the Virginia
Assembly, introducing the Virginia Resolves on the Stamp Act, May 30, 1765.
Under that date the writer, who was present when Henry spoke, records: “Shortly
after I came in, one of the members stood up and said he had read that in
former times Tarquin and Julius had their Brutus, Charles had his Cromwell and
he Did not Doubt but some good american would stand up in favor of his country,
etc.” The entry is interesting corroborative evidence for an incident none too
clearly vouched for in other contemporary sources.—AHR, 26 (2912): 745. (Gilbert
J. Garraghan, A Guide to Historical Method, ed. Jean Delanglez [New
York: Fordham University Press, 1946], 248-49)
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