Below is a notebook or diary of a type that seems to have been very common in the mid-late 1800s. This one belonged to Julia Wilbur, a teacher, abolitionist, and suffragette from Rochester, NY whose diaries have been archived at Haverford College.

“In 1862, she traveled on her own to Washington and Alexandria, then Union-occupied, with a heartfelt but ill-defined “job description” to assist formerly enslaved blacks (known as contrabands at the time) who were leaving the South. She spent most of the war in Alexandria, funded by the Rochester Ladies Anti Slavery Society.”

I’m sure her diaries would be fascinating to read! The one below records her experiences on the occasion of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Read more about her here: Julia & Paula and here: From Diary to Biography