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"It was so very pleasant to refer back to the days that are gone..."
Emily and Ellen Hall kept diaries, on and off, for over sixty years of each of their lives. This meant that they produced multiple volumes of diaries, many of which cannot have even been read, let alone transcribed. However, their existence is well known among local residents of Bromley and West Wickham, and local historians such as Joyce Walker have found them valuable sources. In the 1960's, three volumes of narrative and extracts based on various points in the sisters lives were published. You can read more about readers of the diaries here. I can tell you from my own experience that the diaries are very difficult to read. If you don't believe me, you can view pages from the diaries. Both of the sisters had tiny handwriting, and often made no effort to write neatly. But, why should they have done? Were the diaries ever meant to be read by anybody apart from the sisters themselves? Probably not...although it is interesting to speculate as to exactly why Emily and Ellen started the diaries and why they kept them up for such a long period of their lives.
It does not seem likely that the diaries were ever supposed to be published, certainly not at the time that they were written. It is most likely, they were written for the sister's own pleasure and because they enjoyed literature and writing. Here you can read Emily and Ellen writing on the personal joys of journalising. Even if the Hall sisters had wanted to publish their diaries, it would have been seen as highly daring for middle-class women to make their private lives and their inner most thoughts something available in the public sphere. It would undoubtedly have caused a scandal and ruined their reputation among respectable company, even thought much of the content of the diaries may seen to us! In 1830's and 40's there were many obstacles facing women who wished to see their work published, especially something as personal as a diary. Any memoirs or journals that were published by women were usually records of religious and spiritual life, and contain few details of day to day activities and thoughts to do with anything else. An example of this is The Memoir of Mary Prentice published by The Religious Trace Society in around 1840.
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