Mary Ella Duvall Diary

This collection consists of the diary dated 1861-1867 of an educated young woman as she leaves school and reflects on the changing world around her due to the American Civil War.

Description from the vendor: "1861-1867. Comprised of 94 handwritten pages densely composed in ink and pencil, with one page excised and one censored toward the rear. Measures 120 x 76 mm. Tan sheep over card; light wear to extremities and shadow of owner's signature to front board. Internally tight and clean. Genealogy records indicate that the Duvall family began in Kentucky before migrating to the Washington, DC area in the earlier half of the century; and entries from the diary position the family home near Maryland and Virginia. With entries dated from 1861-1867, this diary documents six years in the life of a young woman witnessing important national and local changes around her. Beginning only 2 weeks before the start of the American Civil War, this manuscript carries historical keys for understanding how young men and women's lives were affected.

Mary Ella Duvall initiates her diary on March 31, 1861 at the beginning of her teenage years, with a reflection on her first communion and the blessings it will bring on her life. Little did she know that within 13 days, her country would be at war and her family would be at the conflict's geographical center. In her earliest entries, she rarely notes the war, but it sits in the background of her life. She laments the closure of her school in June, for example., but balances this with youthful curiosity about the young men courting her older cousin Sallie. "School closed today. I have parted from schoolmate and teachers, probably never to meet them again in this world ... Cousin Duvall gave Sallie a bouquet." During 1861, most entries focus on Sallie's flirtations with two young men who may propose, on calls and visits, and on Mary's attempts to become a better horsewoman. But by 1862, her tone begins to shift. "New Year's Day. I hope that I will be able to look back at the past and feel that I have not misspent my time… l hope this year will bring peace and prosperity to my land." Now, the realities of war and adulthood sink in simultaneously. "Many friends have drooped and died... one of my friends in particular has passed away from earth," she comments in the spring, noting that these men "died for me" and that she hopes to better learn self-sacrifice from their examples. By the time the war ends, she visits graveyards in 1865, commenting "I am again at Prospect Hill, amid all its changes, but am I not changed myself? Oh yes! I have passed through trial~ that have made me a different girl." As her family awaits the release of Sallie's husband at the war's end, Mary rejects a marriage proposal of her own because "I do not love him."

A rich text with research potential including but not limited to gender studies, local histories of the Civil War and Reconstruction, culture at the border of North and South, religion and devotion, paleography, and the spread of disease and its treatments."