The Diary of Sarah Clinch: A Spirited Socialite in Victorian Nova Scotia

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Sarah, an 18-year-old from Boston, visited relatives in Halifax in
1853–54. She kept a daily journal of the year-long visit, a document
that tells us a lot about the life of an upper-class teenager, key
figures in Nova Scotia, and social life at that time.

Attending church two or three times a week and making social calls on
the best families occupied much of Sarah’s time. Playing the piano,
reading, and sewing, and genteel recreation such as sleigh rides,
needlework, and shopping, filled in the corners. As well, she read
Latin, spoke French, German, and Spanish, and gave some language
instructions to friends.

The diary paints a soft-focus portrait of ladies going about their
social duties, signing one another’s visitor’s cards (the approved
way to pay a call to someone who isn’t “at home”), buying ribbons,
and sharing a few reserved comments on the many sermons they heard each
week. It is also intriguing to the reader who wants to find out more
about such prominent Nova Scotians as writer and judge Thomas Chandler
Haliburton, who created the comic character Sam Slick.

The diary opens a window to the priorities, attitudes, and
preoccupations of the time. It lets us share Sarah’s interests,
worries, and aspirations. It gives us not only a portrait of Sarah as an
individual, but also a template for a proper young lady of the era. For
social historians, it’s pure gold.