On the morning of August 15, 1815, 18-year-old Louisa Sarah Collins of Colin Grove, Nova Scotia"picked a basket of black currants." That afternoon, she"sewed a little while and then went out and raked hay.""I shall retire early tonight, for I feel quite tired after my days work," she wrote, on this second day after she began keeping a journal that summer. Before the end of January 1816, she would write close to 25 more entries totaling 8,000 words.

This website includes transcriptions of Louisa's diary, accompanied by eight images, 16 maps and plans of Louisa's surroundings, biographical information on the people mentioned in the diary, and additional historical information contextualizing Louisa's life. These materials open a window into the daily life of an uneducated young, rural woman from the 19th-century Maritimes, providing insight into women's roles, class issues, public events, attitudes towards work, leisure, birth and death, religious practice, and personal relationships. They also present the opportunity to contrast Louisa's views with those of Lucy Maud Montgomery's early 20th-century Anne of Green Gables.

Read a more in-depth review of Louisa's Worldwritten by Nora Jaffary of Concordia University.

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