Zenos R. Miller World War 1 Diaries.
1. This is very much a diary of many men who became prisoners of war in 1918. It is a very personal diary about his life and things going on in it. Like being in the military and being promoted and then being called out to war. He is piolet and gives great insight to what he was doing and thinking, and how the military operated during this time. I have to ask myself what make him think to start a diary? Also, who found it and did they know that this diary would one day be apart of history and displayed in a museum.
2. https://transcription.si.edu/project/17875 Zenos R. Miller World War 1 Diaries it is now held and displayed by the National Air and Space Museum Library.
I am not 100% sure who the audience would have been intended for because when most people write a diary they are writing for there own memories and very rare that we write with intentions of someone else finding it to read.
3. Context: During this time, we were in World War 1 and this pilot gets shot down and taken as a POW (Prisoner of War) along with many other men. Reading some of this diary is eye opening to things people went threw during these times.
4. Implications/Conclusions: Looking back at this article/diary and the time frame we are learning. I still have to ask myself How was this found and then left for people like us century years later to ready and examine. Makes me want to start writing a diary for myself as a military woman, mother and student in hopes that one day someone might also find my thoughts and use in history books to come.
5. Discussion Question: What would you have done is you found this yourself? Also, after reading this does it make you want to start a diary as well?
Hi Laura! I really like the question you posed. Historians often think about a diary as a valuable piece of historical evidence, because it (ostensibly) represents someone's personal thoughts and feelings and can provide more of a humanized account of significant events, like this one does of WWI. There is also a lot of power in digging into the way people kept track of mundane elements of daily life. If you think about it, those mundane elements are what makes up most of our lives! 😉 Your question is more complicated though--because it makes me think about the intended audience for a diary. Do most people think their diary will end up in the Smithsonian? (Probably not.) But do some people understand that their diary will likely survive them?
My mother keeps a journal, which she has told me about--but she burns them after they are done. There is a tension between using a journal or diary to personally work through stressful or anxiety-ridden events (like a war!) and using one to document your life.