Mary L.P. Williams diary, 1873-1876 | Louisiana Research Collection

Scope and Contents: The diary of Mary L.P. Williams of Carrollton began in 1873 as an assignment in a senior year course at the girl's high school in New Orleans. The journal continues intermittently through 1874-1875 but there is only one short entry for 1876. The journal concerns school work, social life, novels and the theater, and family life as seen by a Carrollton teenager. The diary may have served as a model for a journal started by her brother Espy in January, 1874. At the first of his journal, Espy Williams wrote, "I never would keep a daily journal....They are in fact only suited to school-girls and sentimental misses just from school." Paul T. Nolen, editor. "The Journal of a Young Southern Playwright, Espy Williams of New New Orleans, 1874-1875." Louisiana Studies I, Number 3 (Fall, 1962), page 39.