History Conversations REWIND | “I commence my journal…”: What Carrie Miller Farquhar Told her Diary…and What She Left Out

Like many women of her generation, Carrie Miller Farquhar (1842-1904) kept a diary for much of her life. These twelve volumes, now in the Montgomery History collections, detail both her young adulthood in Alexandria and Sandy Spring, and (after a gap of nearly two decades) her married life on a farm in Norbeck. Carrie’s words offer present-day historians a wealth of detail about mid-late 19th century education, faith, politics, war, agriculture, child-rearing, and social activities in Montgomery County. At the same time, we know from other sources that there are many stories and events that Carrie did not choose to write down, including her somewhat tumultuous courtship with Roger Brooke Farquhar, Sr., whom she married in 1867. This presentation will reap the benefits of this wonderful primary source – sharing Carrie’s story, using moments described in her diary from the exciting to the mundane – and examine the limitations of relying on a single voice, even a seemingly candid one, to study the past. 

Originally aired July 2021