"I wish to keep a record": Nineteenth-Century New Brunswick Women Diarists and Their World

by Gail Campbell

Nineteenth-century New Brunswick society was dominated by white, Protestant, Anglophone men. Yet, during this time of state formation in Canada, women increasingly helped to define and shape a provincial outlook. I wish to keep a record is the first book to focus exclusively on the life-course experiences of nineteenth-century New Brunswick women. Gail G. Campbell offers an interpretive scholarly analysis of 28 women’s diaries while enticing readers to listen to the voices of the diarists. Their diaries show women constructing themselves as individuals, assuming their essential place in building families and communities, and shaping their society by directing its outward gaze and envisioning its future. Campbell’s lively analysis calls on scholars to distinguish between immigrant and native-born women　and to move beyond present-day conceptions of such women’s world. This unique study provides a framework for developing an understanding of women's worlds in nineteenth-century North America.　　

448 pages, Paperback

Published March 24, 2017

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved this. This was designed for nerds like me who have been long obsessed with Canadian social history and the Dear Canada series. In "I Wish To Keep a Record", Campbell uses the diaries of 28 Anglo-Protestant women in New Brunswick to explore the daily lives of women in nineteenth century Canada. Designed to be read by academics and general audiences, Campbell argues that the perceived strict lines of public/private spheres of the nineteenth century were far more porous than we are lead to believe, and that women's presence often intersected with public (and political) life through their own circles and influence. Looking at daily lives, schooling, religion, work, play, and death, Campbell provides a thorough and complicated look at the everyday life of women in the nineteenth century. I found this book extremely moving, especially the last chapter and the afterwords (which I think is a brilliant move). Perhaps Campbell is not critical enough on the patriarchal structures of nineteenth century women and the question of empire/imperialism certainly could have been explore more, but this is a fantastic read.

[David Ramsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully-written, fascinating and unique book that takes you deep into the family life, culture and economics of 19th-century New Brunswick, a region that one could argue had its heyday during that century. The book melds the contemporary observations of some 28 female diarists with the deep perspective of historian Gail Campbell, who pulls it all together in this surprisingly touching book. I would highly recommend it for aficionados of Canadian history.