Introduction

A diary is a personal document that presents events from an individual's perspective. It is rich in detail, particularly details of everyday life that are useful, among other things, for the writing of social history and biographies. The numerous historical volumes produced from the diaries of George Washington, for instance, testify to the usefulness of the diary as a historical source. Although the diary and other autobiographical writings are to be found in most literate societies of the world, the diary-keeping culture is not a recent development. In Europe, diaries from the fifteenth century have survived until the present, and their numbers have increased over the years.

In Yorùbáland, southwestern Nigeria, the diary-keeping culture developed in the late nineteenth century. This was made possible by the introduction of Western education, which produced an educated elite, and, indirectly by the influence of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) agents in Yorùbáland who kept quarterly and biannual personal journals that were sent to their missionary headquarters periodically. The educated elite adopted this diary-keeping culture and faithfully recorded their appointments, summaries of daily activities, opinions on crucial issues, and future plans. These diaries contain information, not only on the personal lines of their authors, but also on the societies in which they lived.

This chapter regards these diaries as representing intellectual and cultural histories of the milieu in which they were written. It analyzes the extent to which the diaries were able to capture prevailing conditions, as well as their limitations from historiographical and literary perspectives. The conclusion is that despite these limitations, historians, and indeed other scholars, will find the diaries invaluable, especially for their rich display of the intellectual and cultural nuances of their times.