University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

This collection contains four journals of an unknown Londoner cataloguing current events from 1789 to 1810 and from 1829 to 1831. The books present short news extracts in chronological order with a date assigned to each entry. Some of the most recurrent themes are aspects of everyday life but the diaries also include political and military news, court verdicts, and information about theaters in London among many other things. This collection is characteristic of a trend towards journal-keeping that grew in England throughout the 18th century. However, these diaries are entirely impersonal and include no information about the author’s own life or opinions.