Diaries are private documents not meant to be searched by the public and represent the idiosyncrasies of their authors. Diarists often made their entries at the end of the day when they were tired and prone to mistakes or anxious to take shortcuts. Sometimes other family members made entries too, increasing the likelihood of different terms and spellings. So searching diaries can be frustrating and sometimes the results can be less than accurate. To improve your chances of success, consider our suggestions of best practices. To search our transcribed diaries, click on the links below:
- Search Diaries Transcribed by Rural Diary Archive Volunteers
- Search Diaries Previously Transcribed by Others
THE BEST PRACTICE:
Read a few months of the diary to identify the main characters and the short forms used. In doing this you will improve your search results.
TO SEARCH:
As soon as a diary is transcribed, it becomes searchable. Diaries that have not been transcribed are not searchable.
SEARCHING OUR ENTIRE COLLECTION:
To search the entire collection of transcribed pages, you can use the search box situated on the home page. Specific pages hosting your word will appear, but the word will not be highlighted. You will have to find it on the page. The word you are searching for must be four letters or more in length. For example, you will be able to search “oxen” and yield results found in all the transcribed diaries but not “ox.”
SEARCHING A SINGLE TRANSCRIBED DIARY:
To search a particular transcribed diary, open the transcription, then press Ctrl+F and a search box will appear. The word you are searching for will be highlighted throughout the transcribed text. You can search for words of any length using this search method.
SEARCHING PEOPLE:
The same person can appear in many ways: Cecilia Grace Simpson is called “Cecilia”, “Grace” and “Gaty” and “Gatie” in the Simpson Diary. Charles can appear as Chas, and C. Searching for Thomas may yield the diarist’s husband, brother and son who all share the same name. Knowing whether a particular Thomas lived in the household or not will help you decipher who you have found. Be attuned to clues such as “Thomas visited us today” vs “Thomas went to town”. The latter most likely was the Thomas who lived in the household.
SEARCHING NAMES OF PLACES:
Place names may also be shortened: Smiths Falls can be “the Falls”, or “SF”.
SEARCHING THINGS:
Searching concrete items such as eggs, wheat, oats, pigs, chickens will likely yield results. Horses and cows, however, are often given Christian names like Bob or Bessie and so are more difficult to search. You may have very little success searching “fabric” but are more likely to be successful if you are more specific: cotton, calico, print, linen etc.
SEARCHING ACTIVITIES:
For participation in formal institutions you may encounter short forms: the local Presbyterian Church might be referred to as “the brick church” and attendance there could appear as “went to practice” [choir practice], “off to meeting”, “went to service” on various days of the week, not just Sunday, though “Sunday” is another good place to start looking. The local Loyal Orange Lodge might appear as “LOL”, “lodge”, “Orange Hall”, or simply “meeting”. Observing the weekly and/or monthly timing of particular events will help you identify them in other parts of the diary.
When searching “gardening” or other chores consider searching for their component parts, such as seeding, planting, weeding, hoeing, picking, canning etc.