List of diarists

This is a list of diarists.

A - F

* John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, statesman, diplomat
* John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States, statesman, diplomat
* James Agate, writer and critic
* Louisa May Alcott, novelist
* Isaac Ambrose, Puritan
* Henri-Frederic Amiel, philosopher, poet, and critic
* Harriet Arbuthnot, 19th century English diarist and close associate of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
* Martha Ballard, midwife and healer
* W. N. P. Barbellion, naturalist, essayist and short story writer
* Marie Bashkirtseff (1858–1884), painter and sculptor
* Libby Beaman(1844-1932)1st non-native woman in Pribilof Islds
* Peter Hill Beard, photographer in Africa
* Tony Benn, British politician
* Arnold Bennett, novelist
* Nicholas Blundell 1669-1737 (diary 1711-1728)
* Violet Bonham Carter, British politician, daughter of Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith
* Stanley Booth, chronicled his personal experiences with music personalities of the 1960s and 1970s
* James Boswell, chronicler of Samuel Johnson
* Vera Brittain, author and feminist
* Fanny Burney, novelist
* Meg Cabot, YA author
* Jim Carroll, author, poet, and musician
* Lewis Carroll, writer and mathematician
* John Cheever, American novelist
* Claire Lee Chennault, US World War II General. Head of the legendary Flying Tigers.
* Mary Chesnut, described life in South Carolina during the American Civil War
* Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's foreign minister
* Kurt Cobain, rock musician, Nirvana's lead singer
* Richard Crossman, British politician and writer
* Aleister Crowley, British occultist and poet
* Adam Czerniaków, head of the Warsaw Ghetto's Judenrat
* Charles Lutwidge Dodgson: see Lewis Carroll
* George Bubb Dodington, British politician and nobleman
* Pete Doherty, rock musician (Babyshambles), ex-Libertines
* Fyodor Dostoevsky, author
* Marguerite Duras, author
* Isabelle Eberhardt
* Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian of religion and mythologist
* Edward Robb Ellis, writer and reporter
* Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer
* John Evelyn, writer and gardener
* Marianne Faithfull, singer and actress
* Zlata Filipović, diarist in Sarajevo during the Yugoslav war
* Miles Franklin, Australian author
* Donald Friend, Australian artist
* Anne Frank, hid from the Nazis during World War II
* Elizabeth Freke, 1642-1714 (diary 1671-1714)
* Max Frisch, playwright and novelist
* Buckminster Fuller, designer and engineer

G - M

* Wanda Gag, artist and children's book author
* Andre Gide, author
* Allen Ginsberg, Beat poet
* Mary Gladstone, British political diarist
* Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's Propaganda Minister
* Francine du Plessix Gray, author
* Eugénie de Guérin
* Che Guevara Revolutionary, kept diaries of his travels and of the wars he fought in
* Charlotte Forten Grimké, abolitionist and women's rights activist
* Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre.
* Philip Henslowe, Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur
* Etty Hillesum, young Jewish victim of Nazi Germany
* Henry Hitchcock, served under General William Tecumseh Sherman
* Lady Margaret Hoby, 1599-1605
* Karen Horney, psychoanalyst
* Gerard Manley Hopkins, poet
* Arthur Crew Inman, author of a 17-million word diary
* Alice James, sister of Henry James and William James: lived in England during the 1880s and 1890s
* Arthur Jessop, 1639-1727. West Yorkshire apothecary
* Carolina Maria de Jesus, Brazilian slum survivor
* Liz Jones, writer and journalist
* William Jones, 1755-1821, vicar of Broxbourne (diary 1777-1821)
* Franz Kafka, writer
* Frida Kahlo, painter
* Alfred Kazin, literary critic
* Friedrich Kellner, Justice Inspector and author of My Opposition
* Søren Kierkegaard, philosopher
* Francis Kilvert, described rural Victorian life
* John MacDonald, diarist, Memoirs of an eighteenth century footman (1745-1779)
* William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian prime minister
* Victor Klemperer, professor of literature, described life as a Jew under the Nazis
* Selma Lagerlöf, first female winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
* James Lees-Milne, biographer and historian, secretary of the Country House Committee of the National Trust 1936-1950
* Madeleine L'Engle, author
* Elisabeth Leseur* Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of the aviator, kept diaries her whole life and describes in detail what the family experienced as a result of the kidnapping of their child
* Courtney Love, actress and rock musician
* Henry Machyn, 16 century London diarist
* Thomas Mann, German novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
* Judith Malina, actress, cofounder of the Living Theatre
* John Manningham, law student, 1602-1603
* Katherine Mansfield, author
* Megan McCafferty, YA author
* Matsuo Bashō, haiku and renga poet also known for his travel diaries
* Michinaga, 11th century "de facto" Japanese ruler
* John Milward, 1599-1670 (diary 1666-1668)
* Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer-songwriter
* Helena Morley (1880–1970), described life as a teenage girl in the Brazilian town of Diamantina during the 1890s
* Roger Morrice, Puritan minister and political journalist
* Arthur Munby, Victorian poet, barrister, and solicitor
* Iris Murdoch, author

N - Z

* Sylas Neville, 1741-1840 (diary 1767-1788)
* Stevie Nicks, singer/songwriter, member of Fleetwood Mac
* Vaslav Nijinsky, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky)
* Anaïs Nin, lover of Henry Miller, pornographer and poet: also known for her erotica
* James Oakes, 1741-1829 (diary 1778-1827)
* Joyce Carol Oates, author
* Joe Orton, playwright
* Cynthia Ozick, author
* Michael Palin, member of Monty python, actor and travel writer
* George S. Patton, US World War II General. Part of it was published by his wife after his death as "War As I Knew It".
* Emily Pepys, 1833-1877. English child diarist (diary 1844-1845)
* Samuel Pepys, civil servant
* Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, 1716-1776
* Sylvia Plath, poet
* James K. Polk, 11th President of the United States
*Barbara Pym, 20th century novelist
* Thomas Raikes
* Ronald Reagan 40th President of the United States
* Ned Rorem, composer
* Henry Rollins, singer for Black Flag
* Dudley Ryder, 1691-1756. Lord Chief Justice (diary 1715-1716)
* May Sarton, poet and novelist
* Siegfried Sassoon, poet and author
* Sir Walter Scott, novelist
* George Bernard Shaw, Nobel Prize-winning playwright
* Sei Shōnagon
* Emily Shore
* Frances Stevenson, mistress and second wife of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
* Joseph Stilwell, US World War II General. Published by his widow after his death as "The Stilwell Papers".
* George Templeton Strong (1820–1875), New York lawyer
* Daniel Terdiman, award-winning journalist and diarist, published in both print and non-print media
* Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), author and philosopher
* Hester Thrale (1740–1821), author, friend and confidante of Samuel Johnson
* Sophia Tolstoy, wife of Russian author Leo Tolstoy: they read each other's diaries
* Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva, poet and writer
* Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States
* Thomas Turner (diarist and shopkeeper), 1729-1793
* Marie Vassiltchikov, Russian princess, involved in plot to kill Adolf Hitler
* Victoria of the United Kingdom, 19th Century Monarch of the UK.
* Alice Walker, author
* Cosima Wagner, daughter of Franz Liszt, second wife of Richard Wagner
* Richard Wagner, composer
* Ralph Ward, Yorkshire cattle-dealer (diary 1754-1756)
* Sabrina Ward Harrison
* Andy Warhol, artist
* Simone Weil, philosopher
* Denton Welch, author
* Opal Whiteley, author, naturalist and subject of several books, including one by Benjamin Hoff
* Elie Wiesel, author
* Kenneth Williams, comic actor
* Lieutenant-General Adam Williamson, deputy lieutenant of the Tower of London, 1676-1747 (diary 1722-1747)
* Edmund Wilson, writer and critic
* Otto Wolf, hid from the Nazis during World War II
* James Woodforde, eighteenth century English clergyman
* Wilford Woodruff, fourth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
* Virginia Woolf, author and feminist
* Dorothy Wordsworth, poet, sister of William Wordsworth
* Zina D. H. Young, third President of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Fake diaries

* Hitler Diaries
* Mussolini diaries
* The Diary of Mrs Pepys (by F.D. Ponsonby, London 1934)
* The Journal of Mrs Pepys (by Sara George, 1998)
* Diary of a Farmer's Wife 1796-1797 (spurious, published 1964)

Diaries of disputed authenticity

* Roger Casement's Black Diaries, which details his alleged homosexual activies. Believed by some to be a forgery perpetrated by the British government.

Fictional diaries

* Bridget Jones's Diary
* The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾
* The Princess Diaries
* Sloppy Firsts

ee also

*List of dream diaries

External links

*The Virtual Yesterday Diary Database Project: http://www.vyes.org
* [http://www.thediaryjunction.co.uk The Diary Junction - data and links for over 500 literary and historical diarists.]
* [http://www.thediaryjunction.blogspot.com The Diary Junction blog - occasional posts on diaries in the news.]