| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Editorial Note -- Introduction -- The Journal -- Book 2. -- Book 14. (1810) -- Book 15.- Book. 23. (1811) -- Epilogue: Rachel Van Dyke's Life After 1811 -- "We Would Share Equally": Gender, Education, and Romance in the Journal of Rachel Van Dyke -- Appendix A: Dates of Journal Exchanges Between Rachel Van Dyke and Ebenezer Grosvenor -- Appendix B: Rachel Van Dyke's Reading List -- Appendix C: Ebenezer Grosvenor's Code and Translation -- Appendix D: Excerpts from the Rural Visiter -- Appendix E: The Journal of Ebenezer Grosvenor (April 20- May 31,1808) -- Appendix F: Genealogy of Rachel Van Dyke, 1580-1709, and Genealogy of Rachel Van Dyke, 1709-1891 -- Friends and Family Mentioned in Rachel Van Dyke's Journal -- Notes -- Bibliography of Secondary Sources -- Acknowledgments -- Index |
| Summary |
"The Journal of Rachel Van Dyke," a compelling primary document previously unpublished, offers insights into the life and mind of a seventeen-year-old young woman, while also providing a fascinating window into the cultural and social landscape of the early national period. Rachel was a thoughtful, intelligent, observer, and her journal is an important account of upper- and middle-class life in the growing city of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her entries reveal her remarkably studied views on social customs, marriage, gender roles, friendship, and religion. The journal is dominated by two interrelated themes: Rachel's desire to broaden her knowledge and her friendship with her teacher, Ebenezer Grosvenor. Since Ebenezer was both her teacher and her romantic interest, it is impossible to distinguish between the themes of education and romance that dominate her writings. On several occasions, Rachel and Ebenezer exchanged their private journals with each other. During these exchanges, Ebenezer added comments in the margins of Rachel's journal, producing areas of written "conversation" between them. The marginalia adds to the complexity of the journal and provides evidence of and insight into Rachel's romantic and intellectual relationship with him. The written interactions between Rachel and Ebenezer, together with discussions of friendship and courtship rituals provided throughout the journal, enrich our understanding of social life during the early national period. To Read My Heart will be of interest to students of American history, women's studies, and nineteenth-century literature; all readers will be captivated by the rich expression and emotional experience of the journal. Whether she is relating the story of a young friend's wedding, the death of a small boy, or the capture of a slave in Guinea, Rachel's pages have universal appeal as she seeks to understand her own role as an emerging adult |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed Jan. 06, 2016) |
| Subject |
Van Dyke, Rachel, 1793- -- Diaries
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Young women -- New Jersey -- New Brunswick -- Diaries
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Young women -- New Jersey -- New Brunswick -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
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HISTORY / United States / 19th Century.
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Young women -- Social life and customs.
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Young women.
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New Jersey -- New Brunswick.
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| Genre/Form |
Diaries.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
McMahon, Lucia.
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Schriver, Deborah.
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| ISBN |
1512805793 |
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9781512805796 |
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