The Diary of Harriet Manigault, 1813-1816

by Harriet Manigault, Virginia Armentrout (Editor), James S. Armentrout Jr. (Editor)

On July 13, 1864 Mary Wilcocks brought her Mother’s diary to “Bet” Fisher to read. Her Husband, Sidney George Fisher, writing in HIS diary called it “an agreeable picture of society in of that day & a pleasant impression of the writer.” The Diary remained in the family until 1960 when Miss Anna W. Ingersoll presented it to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania where it remains part of the Manuscript Collection. It consists of three leather covered notebooks, two pages of which appear on the covers of this volume. The deletions noted occur in the original text. Some appear to have been made at the time of writing, others later on; all have been respected. No attempt has been made to correct either spelling or punctuation. The Fisher Memoir is also part of the Manuscript Collection. It was written in a single exercise book, probably near the end of his life in 1873. Mr. Fisher’s comments on the persons and circle of the Diary are so fortuitous that the appropriate parts of the Memoir seemed to be a mandatory footnote to the Diary. In addition, the Annual Report 1973-74 of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia (Report of the Librarian, Roger W. Moss, Jr.) touches on events and persons in the Diary, especially the circle of foreigners. The Harriet Manigault Diary indeed provides a “pleasant impression of the writer,” but together with the Memoir it gives a vivid, detailed glimpse of the Society “probably the most urbane and cultured in American history.” [Introduction]

Paperback

Published January 1, 1976