The Diary of a Young Girl at the Anne Frank Zentrum

A diary is a written or

audiovisual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service provide ...

memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, thoughts, and/or feelings, excluding comments on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone who keeps a diary is known as a diarist. Diaries undertaken for institutional purposes play a role in many aspects of human civilization, including government records (e.g. ''

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...

''), business ledgers, and military records. In British English, the word may also denote a preprinted journal format. Today the term is generally employed for personal diaries, normally intended to remain private or to have a limited circulation amongst friends or relatives. The word " journal" may be sometimes used for "diary," but generally a diary has (or intends to have) daily entries (from the Latin word for 'day'), whereas journal-writing can be less frequent. Although a diary may provide information for a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, autobiography or biography, it is generally written not with the intention of being published as it stands, but for the author's own use. In recent years, however, there is internal evidence in some diaries (e.g. those of Ned Rorem, Alan Clark, Tony Benn or Simon Gray) that they are written with eventual publication in mind, with the intention of self-vindication (pre- or posthumous), or simply for profit. By extension, the term ''diary'' is also used to mean a printed publication of a written diary; and may also refer to other terms of journal including electronic formats (e.g.

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

s).

Etymology

The word ' diary' comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

("daily allowance," from , "day"). The word 'journal' comes from the same root (, "of the day") through the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th French for 'day' being ). The earliest recorded use of the word 'diary' to refer to a book in which a daily record was written was in Ben Jonson">French language">French for 'day' being ). The earliest recorded use of the word 'diary' to refer to a book in which a daily record was written was in Ben Jonson's comedy ''Volpone'' in 1605.

History

The earliest known book resembling a diary is the Diary of Merer, an ancient Egyptian logbook whose author described the transportation of limestone from Tura to Giza, likely to clad the outside of the Great Pyramid. The oldest extant diaries come from

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

ern and

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

n cultures, although the even earlier work ''To Myself'' (), today known as the '' Meditations'', written in Greek by the Roman emperor

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

in the second half of the 2nd century AD, already displays many characteristics of a diary. Pillowbooks of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese court ladies and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n travel journals offer some aspects of this genre of writing, although they rarely consist exclusively of diurnal records. In the medieval Near East,

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

diaries were written from before the 10th century. The earliest surviving diary of this era which most resembles the modern diary was that of Abu Ali ibn al-Banna in the 11th century. His diary is the earliest known to be arranged in order of date ( in Arabic), very much like modern diaries. The precursors of the diary in the modern sense include daily notes of medieval mystics, concerned mostly with inward emotions and outward events perceived as spiritually important (e.g. Elizabeth of Schönau, Agnes Blannbekin, and perhaps also, in the lost vernacular account of her visions, Beatrice of Nazareth). From the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

on, some individuals wanted not only to record events, as in medieval chronicles and itineraries, but also to put down their own opinions and express their hopes and fears, without any intention to publish these notes. One of the early preserved examples is the anonymous covering the years 1405–1449, giving subjective commentaries on current events. Famous 14th to 16th century Renaissance examples, which appeared much later as books, were the diaries by the Florentines Buonaccorso Pitti and Gregorio Dati and the Venetian Marino Sanuto the Younger. These diaries include records of even less important everyday occurrences together with much reflection, emotional experience and personal impressions. In 1908, the Smythson company created the first featherweight diary, enabling diaries to be carried about.

Published diaries

Many diaries of notable figures have been published and form an important element of autobiographical literature. Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) is the earliest diarist who is well known today; his diaries, preserved in Magdalene College, Cambridge, were first transcribed and published in 1825. Pepys was amongst the first who took the diary beyond mere business transaction notation, into the realm of the personal. Pepys' contemporary John Evelyn also kept a notable diary, and their works are among the most important

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...

s for the

English Restoration The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 164 ...

period, and consist of eyewitness accounts of many great events, such as the Great Plague of London, and the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

. The practice of posthumous publication of diaries of literary and other notables began in the 19th century. As examples, the ''Grasmere Journal'' of Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855) was published in 1897; the journals of Fanny Burney (1752–1840) were published in 1889; the diaries of Henry Crabb Robinson (1776–1867) were published in 1869. Among important U.S. Civil War diaries are those of George Templeton Strong, a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

lawyer, and Mary Chesnut, the wife of a Confederate officer. The diary of Jemima Condict, living in the area of what is now West Orange, New Jersey, includes local observations of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. Since the 19th century the publication of diaries by their authors has become commonplace – notably amongst politicians seeking justification but also amongst artists and litterateurs of all descriptions. Amongst late 20th-century British published political diaries, those of Richard Crossman, Tony Benn and Alan Clark are representative, the latter being more indiscreet, in the tradition of the diaries of Chips Channon. In Britain in the field of the arts notable diaries were published by James Lees-Milne, Roy Strong and Peter Hall. Harold Nicolson in the mid-20th century covered both politics and the arts. One of the most famous modern diaries, widely read and translated, is the posthumously published '' The Diary of a Young Girl'' by

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...

, who wrote it while in hiding during the German occupation of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in the 1940s. Otto Frank edited his daughter's diary and arranged for its publication after the war. Many edits were made before the diary was published in other countries. This was due to sexually explicit material, which also led to some libraries banning the book. The writing of diaries was also often practiced from the 20th century onwards as a conscious act of self-exploration (of greater or lesser sincerity) – examples being the diaries of Carl Jung, Aleister Crowley and Anaïs Nin. Among important diaries by 20th-century literary figures are those of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, Edmund Wilson and the French writer Paul Léautaud (1872–1956). The self-reflective '' Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul'' written by Saint Faustina contains accounts of her visions and conversations with Jesus. A strong psychological effect may arise from having an audience for one's self-expression, even if this is the book one writes in, only read by oneself – particularly in adversity. Anne Frank went so far as to address her diary as "Kitty." Friedrich Kellner, a court official in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, thought of his diary as a weapon for any future fight against tyrants and terrorism, and named it , '' My Opposition''. Victor Klemperer was similarly concerned with recording for the future the tyrannies and hypocrisies of Nazi Germany and of its East German successor state in his diaries. However in these cases, the authors didn't anticipate publication.

Internet diaries

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

access became commonly available, many people adopted it as another medium in which to chronicle their lives with the added dimension of an audience. The first

online diary An online diary or web diary, is a personal diary or journal that is published on the World Wide Web on a personal website or a diary-hosting website. Overview Online diaries have existed since at least 1994. As a community formed, these publica ...

is thought to be Claudio Pinhanez's ''Open Diary'', published at the

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...

website from 14 November 1994 until 1996. Other early online diarists include

Justin Hall Justin Hall (born December 16, 1974, in Chicago, Illinois) is an Americans, American journalist and entrepreneur, best known as a pioneer blogger. Biography Born in Chicago, Hall graduated Francis W. Parker School (Chicago), Francis W. Parker ...

, who began eleven years of personal online diary-writing in 1994, Carolyn Burke, who started publishing ''Carolyn's Diary'' on 3 January 1995, and Bryon Sutherland, who announced his diary ''The Semi-Existence of Bryon'' in a

USENET Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...

newsgroup on 19 April 1995. The internet has also served as a way to bring previously unpublished diaries to the attention of historians and other readers, such as the diary of Michael Shiner, an enslaved person in the 19th century who documented his life in Washington, D.C. Web-based services such as Open Diary (started in October 1998) and LiveJournal (January 1999) soon appeared to streamline and automate online publishing, but growth in personal storytelling came with the emergence of

s. While the format first focused on external links and topical commentary, widespread blogging tools were quickly used to create web journals. Recent advances have also been made to enable the privacy of internet diary entries. For example, some diary software now stores entries in an encrypted format, such as 256-bit AES (

Advanced Encryption Standard The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known by its original name Rijndael (), is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001. AES is a variant ...

) encryption, and others only permit access to the diary after correct PIN entry on a secure USB device.

Digital diaries

With the popularization of mobile apps, diary or journaling apps have become available for iOS and Android. Proponents have cited numerous reasons for journaling using digital applications, including ease and speed of typing, mobile portability, and search capabilities. Digital diaries are also tailored towards shorter-form, in-the-moment writing, similar to user engagement with social media services such as

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. Apple released a journal app with its iOS 17.2 update, pulling suggestions for entries based on locations the user has visited, music they have listened to, and photos from their photo library alongside prompts.

Other forms of diaries

Personal organizer

A personal organizer is a form of diary to list actions and tasks for the day, which are recorded in a log, often using symbols to differentiate and categorize items.

Freewriting

In free writing, the diarist sets aside a few minutes each day to write without any constraints, letting thoughts flow freely and allowing the subconscious mind to express itself. Freewriting can unearth hidden thoughts and emotions, fostering self-discovery.

Gardening journal

A gardening journal helps gardeners improve their efforts over time by providing a historical record of actions taken, the weather and other elements, and the results.

Gratitude journal

A gratitude journal is a diary of things for which someone is grateful. Keeping a gratitude journal is a popular practice in the field of positive psychology.

Sleep diary

A sleep diary or sleep log is a tool used in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders or to keep track of dreams had in order to gain insight to the subconscious or for further contemplation.

''Tagebuch''

The German ''Tagebuch'' ('days-book') is normally rendered as "diary" in English, but the term encompasses workbooks or working journals as well as diaries proper.Cf. Andreas Dorschel, 'Denktagebücher: Zur Poetik des philosophischen Journals', ''Philosophische Rundschau'' LX (2013), no. 4, pp. 264–298. For example, the notebooks of the Austrian writer Robert Musil and of the German-Swiss artist Paul Klee are called ''Tagebücher''.

Travel journal

A travel journal, travel diary, or road journal, is the documentation of a journey or series of journeys.

War diary

A war diary is a regularly updated official record of a military unit's administration and activities during wartime maintained by an officer in the unit. Such diaries can form an important source of historical information, for example about long and complex battles in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Fictional diaries

There are numerous examples of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

al diaries. One of the earliest printed fictional diaries was the humorous '' Diary of a Nobody'' by George Grossmith and his brother Weedon. 20th-century examples include radio broadcasts (e.g. '' Mrs. Dale's Diary'') and published books (e.g. the ''Diaries of Adrian Mole''). Both prompted long-running

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

features in the magazine '' Private Eye'': the former entitled '' Mrs Wilson's Diary'' in reference to Mary Wilson, wife of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Harold Wilson, the latter entitled ''The Secret Diary of John Major Aged 47¾'' and written as a pastiche of the Adrian Mole diaries from the perspective of the then-Prime Minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

. Another famous example of the use of fictional diaries as prose is Bram Stoker's '' Dracula''. A modern example includes the ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' series where each book of the series is written in a first-person view of the main character, as if the book were an actual diary. Other examples are the '' Bert Diaries'' and the cellphone diaries in the Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

and

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series '' Future Diary''.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Works about history