Materialitäten des Diaristischen: Erscheinungsformen von Tagebüchern von Mädchen und Frauen im 20. Jahrhundert

This article discusses the materials on which auto/biographical texts were written. Focusing on girls’ and women’s diaries of the twentie th century, the author argues for a broad understanding on which writing materials might contain diary records. An analysis of ‘schoolgirl diaries’, calendars , household books, and ‘mothers’ diaries’ shows the complex relationships between individual auto/biographical practices, which could change during the course of an author’s life, and historical styles, conventions, gift-giving cultures and socio-political interests. The paper demonstrates, among other things, that the idea of girls mainly using lockable diaries is nothing more than a cliché. Looking at different levels of diary-related materialities (writing style, paper, enclosures and cover sheets) and the places where they were kept, this paper also explores the aspects of ‘secrecy’ and ‘self-re/presentation’ in a diary context. Taking the appearances of archived records as a starting point, the perspective finally broadens to include those transformations that egodocuments undergo on their way to being researched or edited.