The Diary Exhibition

A Diary Valentine

Submitted by Christine Nelson on Mon, 02/14/2011 - 11:50am

Curator Christine Nelson honors the lovers who opened their hearts in the diaries now on view at the Morgan.

A Salute to the Empty Page

Submitted by Christine Nelson on Thu, 03/10/2011 - 11:58am

As our lives become filled with an endless stream of content and commentary, what is the value of the glaringly blank page?

Bound to Write: Kids Make Journals!

Submitted by Christine Nelson on Thu, 03/24/2011 - 1:07pm

Even in today’s electronic age, kids delight in making something beautiful and useful with their own hands.

Can We Use Technology to Capture Life—All of It?

Submitted by Christine Nelson on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 11:43am

Traditional diarists make choices about what bits of life to memorialize. But what if we could save life in its entirety? In today’s post, tech luminary and innovator Gordon Bell describes his efforts to do just that.

Do Real Men Keep Diaries?

Submitted by Christine Nelson on Tue, 02/08/2011 - 11:45am

When so many men have kept personal records over so many years, why do so many of us persist in thinking of the diary as a women’s form? In today’s guest post, Rebecca Steinitz, author of a forthcoming book on the diary in the nineteenth century, challenges that popular assumption.

Does a Diary Have to Last?

Submitted by Christine Nelson on Wed, 04/13/2011 - 1:16pm

Before the electronic mobile device, before the blank book, after the wax tablet, how did people take notes? A look at a rare example of a Renaissance erasable pad and its contemporary counterparts.

Lorelei Lee's Guide to Blogging

Submitted by Christine Nelson on Tue, 03/01/2011 - 11:54am

Was the gold-digging protagonist of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes a proto-blogger? Curator Christine Nelson revisits this jazz-age novel written in the form of a diary.

Practicing Freedom: Anne Frank's Example

Submitted by Christine Nelson on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 1:04pm

How can we use the diary to practice freedom? Maureen McNeil of the Anne Frank Center USA bears witness to the power of diary-keeping in prisoners’ lives.