Deborah Norris Logan (1761-1839) was a Quaker historian and memoirist. She was born into one of the most prominent families of Philadelphia and was married to George Logan in 1781. While primarily self-taught, Deborah attended Philadelphia's Friends Girls School and was considered highly educated. She is best known for the seventeen volumes that make up her diary, which she maintained until her death. The diary provides a window into post-revolutionary America, and highlights the day-to-day happenings of domestic life, as well as social and political developments in North America and Europe. Deborah meticulously logged weather patterns and other natural phenomenon, and recorded interactions with family and friends. She also mused on historical and contemporary events, which includes her experience listening to the first reading of the Declaration of Independence as a young girl. She had close ties with America's elite and foreign diplomats, and her writing chronicles the lives of the most eminent figures of the time, including John Adams, George Washington, and Joseph Bonaparte. As time passed, her diary became an outlet for her emotional distress, especially after the deaths of her husband in 1821 and her son Algernon in 1835. Deborah's role as a "revolutionary mother" was of primary importance to her, and her writing delineates how women viewed their lives and constructed their own identities within a broader social framework.

Logan Family Papers (0379) (explore contents)