Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.5559/di.20.3.14
Interpreting Women's History from the Diary of Martha Ballard
Marija OTT FRANOLIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0002-6689-847X
; Zagreb
Abstract
The article discusses whether it is possible to consider a woman's
diary to be a reliable document, from which one can reconstruct
the everyday life and customs of the particular time when the
diary was written, mainly focusing on women's lives. In other
words, is it possible to reconstruct the life of one woman, and
use this reconstruction to portray the typical way of life of that
time? By analyzing the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife who
lived in the 18th century, in Hallowell, New England, this paper
shows that a diary, usually considered to be a private and
subjective document, reveals a lot of historic facts not necessarily
linked only to the life of the woman who had written it. This
analysis looks at Martha's diary as a representative exam
Keywords
women's history; history of private life; history of childbirth; Martha Ballard; diary
Hrčak ID:
72467
URI
Publication date:
10.10.2011.
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