Includes index. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Talk, travel, and a couple of murders : Hannah Callender's sociable, venturesome life -- The diary : January 1758-August 1761 -- "A new scene of life" : men, women, and familial authority -- The diary : March 1762-November 1772 -- Interlude : Hannah Callender Sansom and a revolutionary world -- "This man seems formed for domestic happiness" : the marriage of Sally and Elliston -- The diary : November 1784-October 1788.
Summary:
"Hannah Callender Sansom (1737-1801) witnessed the effects of the tumultuous eighteenth century: political struggles, war and peace, and economic development. She experienced the pull of traditional emphases on duty, subjection, and hierarchy and the emergence of radical new ideas promoting free choice, liberty, and independence. Regarding these changes from her position as a well-educated member of the colonial Quaker elite and as a resident of Philadelphia, the principal city in North America, this assertive, outspoken woman described her life and her society in a diary kept intermittently from the time she was twenty-one years old in 1758 through the birth of her first grandchild in 1788." "Long held in private hands, the complete text of Hannah Callender Sanson's diary is published here for the first time. In-depth interpretive essays, as well as explanatory footnotes, provide context for students and other readers. The diary is one of the earliest, fullest documents written by an American woman, and it provides fresh insights into women's experience in early America, the urban milieu of the emerging middle classes, and the culture that shaped both."--BOOK JACKET.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.