The Small Details of Life: 20 Diaries by Women in Canada, 1830-1996

Margaret Kechnie is head of the Women’s Studies Program at Laurentian
University and the coeditor of Changing Lives: Women in Northern
Ontario.

This collection of excerpts from the diaries of 18 Canadian women spans
166 years of Canadian history. Accompanying each excerpt is a short
introduction by a contributor who is knowledgeable about the diarist.
For example, Afra Kavanagh, an expert on Marian Engel, introduces the
excerpt from the novelist’s diary. The diarists are an amalgam of new
voices and known figures, such as 18-year-old Frances Ramsay Simpson,
wife of the governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company in North America.

Carter believes that the writings of women, particularly those that
focus on their domestic lives, have been undervalued. She cites as the
inspiration for this book feminist historian Veronica Strong-Boag’s
request that archivists give consideration to the writings of “women
both prominent and obscure” in their search for new collections. The
Small Details of Life is a stimulating and valuable addition to the
ongoing debate over Canadian women’s history.