The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr, 1754-1757

This richly detailed and intimate journal is the earliest ongoing record of a woman's daily life in the colonial United States. Written as a series of letters to the author's closest friend, the journal offers a rare glimpse into the public and private life of a spirited and articulate eighteenth-century woman.

 

Esther Edwards Burr was a member, by birth and marriage, of two of New England's elite families. Her father was the renowned Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards; her husband Aaron was the president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University); her son Aaron was to become the second vice-president of the United States. Burr's writings, however, focus on her own experience. Although her background was not typical of her era, her journal illuminates many aspects of colonial life that she shared with other women. Through her eyes we see the extensive household work of a white woman from a prosperous family and her striving to maintain her sense of the value of that work. We learn of her reliance on both evangelical religion and sisterhood for strength and support in times of trial. Set in its proper context by the editors' sensitive introduction, the journal is a historical source of enduring value.