Historic Iowa Children's Diaries

The University of Iowa has a small but interesting digital collection of diaries from children who lived in Iowa from 1860 to the 1900s. Of the eleven diaries that are available, three were written between 1860 and 1870. Even though they are relatively short (only a few pages have been digitized in some cases), the diaries can still provide interesting insights into the children’s experiences. One entry suggests that at least some children were paying attention to the important political issues of their day – Ellery Hancock, who was only about ten years old in 1860, noted on November 6 that Abraham Lincoln had been “elected.” One can learn more about the author through the short biographical sketch on the “document description” page in each diary.