List of longest diaries

Last updated

This is a list of diaries notable for their exceptional length, primarily by word count but also by duration.

Table of diaries sortable by word count and duration
AuthorWord countDurationPeriodNotes
Laura Penrose Francis [a] 40 million60 years1952–2012Word count and duration as of 2012. [2]
Robert Shields 37.5 million25 years1972–1997Exact word count not available until 2049. [3]
Claude Fredericks 30 million80 years1932–2012 [4] Word count is estimated; the manuscript runs to 65,000 pages. [5]
Joseph Holloway25 million45 years1899–1944"Dublin playgoer." Published diaries 1899 to 1944. [6] [7]
Edward Robb Ellis 22 million71 years1927–1998
Heinrich Witt18 million70 years1859–1890Witt (1799–1892) was born in Germany, lived in Peru, and wrote in English. [8]
Arthur Crew Inman 17 million44 years1919–1963155 volumes. [9] Other accounts state 10 million words. [10]
Tony Benn 15 million [b] 69 years1940–2009"…sixty-nine years of writing, typing or dictating almost every day…" [13]
Li Shuxiang13 million74 years1941–2015 [c] 85 volumes. [14]
Nella Last 12 million [15] 28 years1939–1967Participant in Mass Observation project.
Dr. John Henry Salter10 million83 years1849–1932GP of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex. [16]
Thomas McGrath9 million50 years1973–2022 [d] [17]
Henri-Frédéric Amiel 6 million42 years1839–1881173 journals; 16,800 pages. [18]
Harold L. Ickes 6 million [19] 19 years1933–1952"…nearly a hundred volumes of closely-typed copy…" [20]
Ellsworth James5.9 million63 years1944–2007Word count does not include first year (1944) which was handwritten. 1946-2007 manually typed. [21]
Anne Lister 5.6 million [e] 34 years1806–1840She frequently used a cypher or "crypt hand" she had devised herself. [23]
Amos Bronson Alcott 5 million71 years1811–1882…over sixty surviving volumes containing nearly five million words… [24]
Arthur Christopher Benson5 million28 years1897–1925Author of ‘Land of Hope and Glory.’ [25]
Rev. Dr. John Morgans O.B.E. 5 million52 years1952–2004Life as schoolboy, student, and minister in Wales. [26]
Frederic Madden 4 million54 years1819–187343 volumes. [27]
George Templeton Strong 4 million40 years1835–1875"A monumental diary, in the tradition of Pepys, Evelyn or Sewall…" [28]
John Gadd4 million45 years1975–2020Started in 1947 [29] but kept consistently from 1975. [30]
Rev. Dr. Andrew Clark3 million5 years1914–191992 volumes. [31]
Harold Nicolson 3 million34 years1930–1964Diplomat, journalist, Member of Parliament, junior minister, writer, critic & broadcaster. [32]
George Cecil Ives 3 million64 years1886–1950"…122 volumes and approximately 3 million words." [33]
John Quincy Adams 3 million69 years1779–1848Nearly 3 million words, 1,400 pages, 51 volumes. [34]
George C. Edler2.859 million80 years1907–1987Diary from 1 January 1907 to 25 February 1987, the day of his passing. [35]
Philip Hone 2 million23 years1828–1851“…twenty-eight quarto volumes…” [36]
Henry David Thoreau 2 million25 years1837–1861Over 2 million words in 39 notebooks. [37] [38]
Naomi Mitchison 2 million [39] 6 years1939–1945Participant in Mass Observation. Diary published forty years after she wrote it. [40]
Beatrice Webb 1.79 million70 years1873–1943Diaries available online. [41]
Chen Xiukang1.5 million4 years2012–2016 [f] Began keeping a diary to cope with his wife's death. [42]
Samuel Pepys 1.25 million9 years1660–1669Written in shorthand. [43] The 1893 edition is available online. [44]
Margaret Elizabeth Fountaine 1 million61 years1878–193912 volume diary. [45]
Jean Lucey Pratt 1 million61 years1925–1986Over a million words in 45 exercise books. [46]
Ernest Achey Loftus Unknown92 years [g] 1896–1987 Guinness World Record for longest kept diary. [47] [48]
Evie RiskiUnknown89 years [49] 1936–2025 [h] "A 100-year-old American woman has journalled every day for 90 years… nearly 33,000 entries…" [50] [Actually 89 years or 32,547 days]
Robert W. RamsayUnknown82 years1869–1951Diaries from April 1869 to January 1951. 44 vols. [51]
Betty from LancashireUnknown76 years1942–2018"…diaries were meticulously completed every day, and record almost all her everyday activities." [52]
Robert ParryUnknown74 years1539–1613Diary written in Welsh. [53]
Frances Partridge Unknown74 years1927–2002Diary from 31 October 1927 [54] to 15 March 2002, her 102nd birthday. [55]
Anne PerkinsUnknown74 years1935–2009American, Quaker, librarian at Swarthmore College. Over one hundred volumes, only 16 were preserved. [56]
Henry Edward PriceUnknown74 yearsc.1830–1904Cabinet maker, begins with reminiscence of childhood. [57]
Robert BirrelUnknown73 years1532–1605Burgess of Edinburgh, diary of incidents in Scotland. [58]
Jeremiah MoseleyUnknown73 years1803–187618 volumes. [59]
John AmphlettUnknown73 years1854–191842 volumes, extremely full accounts. [60]
Emma Katherine BigwoodUnknown73 years1862–1935"…brief daily entries" [61]
Daniel TimesUnknown72 years1776–1848Coroner, medical diary. [62]
Sir Thomas Francis FremantleUnknown72 years1798–189051 vols, September 1814–January 1815 and 1837–86. [63]
Sir Arthur Pendarves VivianUnknown72 years1851–192364 volumes, personal and travel journals. [64]
Joseph Jeppa AndersonUnknown72 years1878–195020 volumes. [65]
Thomas Asline WardUnknown71 years1800–1871Master Cutler of Sheffield in 1816. Some entries in French, Italian or Latin. [66] [67]
Prince George, Duke of Cambridge Unknown71 years1832–1903Enormous and consistent record of his whole life. [68]
Ellen Laetitia PhilipsUnknown71 years1842–191348 volumes: 1842, 1850-79, and 1881–1913. [69]
Ethel Rudkin Unknown71 years1912–1983"…filled dozens of notebooks." [70] [71]
William Ewart Gladstone Unknown70 years1826–1896Private diary, 1826 to 1895 or 1896. [72] [73]
Mary Barwick BakerUnknown70 years1834–1904Née Fenwick. Personal notes entered in annual volumes. [74]
Lady Louisa de Rothschild Unknown70 years1837–1907Diary from July 1837 to December 1907 (with gaps). [75]
Lady Anne Noel BluntUnknown70 years1837–1917Née King. 214 volumes, July 1847 to November 1917. [76]
Violet Bonham Carter Unknown70 years1899–1969Diaries online. [77]
Claude Mauriac Unknown69 years1927–1995Lejeune gives both 68 and 69 years. "We have yet to count the total number of pages, but the journal measures three and a half meters." [78]
Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle Unknown68 years1789–185741 volumes. Her two sisters also kept diaries. [79]
Queen Victoria Unknown [i] 68 years [j] 1832–1901Over 100 volumes. [82] Her daughter Beatrice copied selected passages from the journals and burned many of the originals. [83]
Sanjōnishi SanetakaUnknown62 years [84] 1455–1537His Sanetaka Kōki is also given a duration of 63 years. [85]
William Lyon Mackenzie King Unknown57 years1893–1950Word count not stated; the manuscript exceeds 50,000 pages. [86]

William Matthews, in his British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942 (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1950) lists 400 diaries with a duration of 30 years or more.

Notes

  1. ↑ Said to be a pseudonym. [1]
  2. ↑ "The full unedited diaries [in 2007] amount to around fifteen million words." [11] A figure of 20 million refers to "the full archive." [12]
  3. ↑ According to article from 2015.
  4. ↑ According to article from 2022.
  5. ↑ Total word count 5,632,524 words. [22]
  6. ↑ According to article from 2016.
  7. ↑ From 1 January 1895 to 31 December 1986, 33,602 days.
  8. ↑ According to article dated 25 February 2025.
  9. ↑ It is calculated that she wrote an average of 2,500 words a day, or sixty million words. However this estimate includes correspondence, notes, minutes, annotations and memoranda as well as her diary. [80]
  10. ↑ From 31 July 1832 to 11 January 1901, 68 years and 5 months. [81]

References

  1. ↑ Beard, Mary (14 May 2016). "A Life Discarded by Alexander Masters – the biography of a nameless person". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  2. ↑ Masters, Alexander (2016). A life discarded–148 diaries found in a skip. London: 4th Estate. ISBN   9780008130794.
  3. ↑ Martin, Douglas (29 October 2007). "Robert Shields, Wordy Diarist, Dies at 89". New York Times. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  4. ↑ "More Adventures of a Gay Roué". The Gay and Lesbian Review. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
  5. ↑ Anastas, Benjamin. "The Most Ambitious Diary in History". The New Yorker. No. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  6. ↑ Havlice, Patricia Pate (1987). And so to bed. A bibliography of diaries published in English (1987). Metuchen, N.J., & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p.387
  7. ↑ Hogan, Robert; O'Neill, Michael J. (1967). Joseph Holloway’s Abbey Theatre. A selection from his unpublished journal, Impressions of a Dublin Playgoer. Cardondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. p.vi
  8. ↑ Mücke, Ulrich (2016). The Diary of Heinrich Witt (vol. 1). Leiden & Boston: Brill. ISBN   978-90-04-27315-3.
  9. ↑ Rosen, Robert (2011). Beaver Street–A history of modern pornography. London: Headpress. p.259.
  10. ↑ Kominars, Sheppard (2007). Write for life: Healing body, mind and spirit through journal writing. Cleveland Clinic Press. p.56.
  11. ↑ Benn, Tony (2007). Diaries 2001–2007. More time for politics. London: Hutchinson. p. ix.
  12. ↑ Wilby, Peter. "Tony Benn: Peter Wilby reads the diaries". The Guardian. No. 22 March 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  13. ↑ Benn, Tony (2013). The last diaries: A blaze of Autumn sunshine. London: Hutchinson. p. xv.
  14. ↑ "Man in Changsha pens diaries for 74 years". People's Daily Online. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  15. ↑ Meschia, Karen (2010-07-01). "Naomi the Poet and Nella the Housewife: Finding a Space to Write from: The Wartime Diaries of Naomi Mitchison and Nella Last". Miranda (2). doi: 10.4000/miranda.1238 . ISSN   2108-6559.
  16. ↑ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p.259.
  17. ↑ https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2022/08/16/50-years-a-diarist-9-million-words-and-counting/.
  18. ↑ Lejeune, Philippe (2009). On diary. University of Hawai'i Press. p.187.
  19. ↑ Dunaway, Philip; Evans, Mel (1957). A treasury of the world’s great diaries. New York: Doubleday & Company Inc. p.394
  20. ↑ Ickes, Jane (1953). The secret diary of Harold L. Ickes (vol. 1) The first thousand days 1933–1936. New York: Simon & Schuster. p.v
  21. ↑ Filbert, Jim (27 March 2024). "Oh my word!". Pike County Express. p.6. Access behind paywall.
  22. ↑ "Anne Lister—Diary Transcription Project" . Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  23. ↑ "Anne Lister—An Introduction" . Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  24. ↑ Kagle, Steven (1986). Early nineteenth century American diary literature. Boston: Twayne Publishers. p. 127–144.
  25. ↑ Taylor, Irene; Taylor, Alan (2000). The assassin's cloak: An anthology of the world's greatest diaries. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 646.
  26. ↑ Morgans, John; Morgans, Norah (2008). Journey of a lifetime: From the diaries of John Morgans. Wales: John and Norah Morgans. p. ii.
  27. ↑ Vivian, Frances (1987). Letts keep a diary–A exhibition of the history of diary keeping in Great Britain from 16th–20th century in commemoration of 175 years of diary publishing by Letts. London: Charles Letts & Co Ltd. p. 13.
  28. ↑ Arksey, Laura; Pries, Nancy; Reed, Marcia (1983). American diaries: An annotated bibliography of published American diaries and journals. Volume 1: Diaries written from 1492 to 1844. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company. p. 229.
  29. ↑ Evans, Mike (23 December 2014). "Meet Mr. Gadd, 83, of Fontwell Magna in Dorset" . Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  30. ↑ de Bruxelles, Simon (10 August 2013). "Diaries record a life in mind numbing detail". The Times . Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  31. ↑ Vivian, Frances (1987). Letts keep a diary–A exhibition of the history of diary keeping in Great Britain from 16th–20th century in commemoration of 175 years of diary publishing by Letts. London: Charles Letts & Co Ltd. p. 23.
  32. ↑ Brett, Simon (1989). The Faber book of diaries. London & Boston: Faber & Faber. p. 485.
  33. ↑ Amigoni, David (2017). Life writing and Victorian culture. Abingdon, UK & New York, USA: Routledge. p. 197.
  34. ↑ Basbanes, Nicholas (2013). On paper: The everything of its two thousand year history. New York: Vintage Books. p. 241.
  35. ↑ Hiassen, Rob (19 May 1999). "A Detailed Life; George Edler spent 80 years documenting the facts of his existence". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  36. ↑ Nevins, Allan (1927). The diary of Philip Hone 1828–1851 Volume 1. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company. p. v.
  37. ↑ Blythe, Ronald (1989). The pleasures of diaries: Four centuries of private writing. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 106.
  38. ↑ Mallon, Thomas (1985). A book of one’s own: People and their diaries. London: Pan Books. p. 76.
  39. ↑ Sheridan, Dorothy. "Woven Tapestries: Dialogues and Dilemmas in Editing a Diary". The European Journal Of Life Writing. X: 46.
  40. ↑ Adamson, Lynda (1998). Notable women in world history: A guide to recommended biographies and autobiographies. Westport, Connecticut & London: Greenwood Press. p. 243.
  41. ↑ "Beatrice Webb's Diaries". LSE Digital Library. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  42. ↑ Wang, Fan (4 July 2016). "Man keeps 1.5-million-word diary in memory of deceased wife". ECNS.CN. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  43. ↑ "The diary of Samuel Pepys". Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  44. ↑ "The Diary of Samuel Pepys: Daily entries from the 17th century London diary". pepysdiary.com. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  45. ↑ Sage, Lorna (1999). The Cambridge guide to women’s writing in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 252.
  46. ↑ Quinn, Anthony (5 November 2015). "A Notable Woman: The Romantic Journals of Jean Lucey Pratt edited by Simon Garfield". The Guardian . Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  47. ↑ "Longest kept diary". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 8 September 2022. The books in the photo are not his actual diaries.
  48. ↑ Loftus, Ernest. Diary 1986. Thurrock Museum. The final extant diary is for 1986, final entry is on Wednesday 31 December. Inspection made 9 July 2024.
  49. ↑ Free, Cathy (9 February 2025). "Woman, 100, has journaled every day for 90 years: 'No excuse for me not to'". The Washington Post . Retrieved 18 June 2025. On the day of publication, Riski had kept her diary for 89 years, not 90.
  50. ↑ Patel, Khushi (13 February 2025). "100-Year-Old Woman Has Journalled Every Single Day for 90 of Those; Nearly 33,000 Entries Later, She Is Still at It. Evie Riski's Diary: A Stunning Time Capsule of a Lifetime of Events". Times Now. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  51. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 238.
  52. ↑ Pooley, Colin G. (2021). "What Betty did: charting everyday activity over the life course". The History of the Family. 26 (4): 602–622.
  53. ↑ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 2.
  54. ↑ Partridge, Frances (1982). Memories. London: Robin Clark. pp. 54, 128.
  55. ↑ Chisholme, Anne (2009). Frances Partridge: The biography. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 367.
  56. ↑ "Anne J. Perkins Diaries". TriCollege Libraries Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
  57. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 106.
  58. ↑ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 1.
  59. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 11.
  60. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 191.
  61. ↑ "Diaries of Emma Katherine Bigwood…". Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  62. ↑ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 113.
  63. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 48.
  64. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 184.
  65. ↑ Bitton, Davis (1977). Guide to Mormon diaries and autobiography. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press. p. 9–10.
  66. ↑ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 154.
  67. ↑ Ponsonby, Arthur (1927). More English diaries. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. p. 158–161.
  68. ↑ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 225.
  69. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 154.
  70. ↑ Pacey, Robert (2002). The diary of Ethel H. Rudkin–Part 1. 1912–1930. Burgh Le Marsh, Lincolnshire: Old Chapel Lane Books. p. 7.
  71. ↑ Pacey, Robert (2022). The diary of Ethel H. Rudkin–Part 4. 1935–1984. Burgh Le Marsh, Lincolnshire: Old Chapel Lane Books. p. 165.
  72. ↑ Matthews, William (1950). British diaries: An annotated bibliography of British diaries written between 1442 and 1942. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 212.
  73. ↑ Ponsonby, Arthur (1925). English diaries: A review of English diaries from the sixteenth to the twentieth century with an introduction on diary writing. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. p. 45–54.
  74. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 122.
  75. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 134.
  76. ↑ Batts, John Stuart (1976). British manuscript diaries of the nineteenth century: An annotated listing. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 168.
  77. ↑ "Diaries, 1899-1969". Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  78. ↑ Lejeune, Philippe (2009). On diary. University of Hawai'i Press. p. 185 & 187.
  79. ↑ Fremantle, Anne (1982). The Wynne diaries–The adventures of two sisters in Napoleonic Europe. Oxford University Press. p. vii, viii, xix.
  80. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (1985). Queen Victoria in her letters and journals–A selection. New York: Viking Penguin Inc. p.1
  81. ↑ Vivian, Frances (1987). Letts keep a diary–A exhibition of the history of diary keeping in Great Britain from 16th–20th century in commemoration of 175 years of diary publishing by Letts. London: Charles Letts & Co Ltd. p. 11.
  82. ↑ Ponsonby, Arthur (1923). English diaries–A review of English diaries from the sixteenth to the twentieth century with an introduction on diary writing. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
  83. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (1985). Queen Victoria in her letters and journals–A selection. New York: Viking Penguin Inc. p.5
  84. ↑ Yamamura, Kozo (2006). The Cambridge history of Japan (vol. 3) Medieval Japan. Cambridge University Press. p. 183–184.
  85. ↑ Plutschow, Herbert E. (1977). Japanese travel diaries of the Middle Ages. p. 34.
  86. ↑ "Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King". Library and Archives Canada. February 28, 2013. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
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