Conditions Governing Use

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Preferred Citation

Charlotte Emily Addis Diary, 1934-1936, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Michael Brown Rare Books with funds from the Frances Randolph Howard Endowment, 2018.

Scope and Contents

Diary of about 100 pages in which Addis records her thoughts and daily activities. Throughout the journal, Addis reports on many books she reads and her impression of them and her interactions with friends, and her career aspirations at a law firm where she works. Addis also writes at length about her feelings and her discovery of her sexual identity as a lesbian. She chronicles her relationship with her neighbor, a married woman named Peg and also other relationships with other women. Addis comments often about her attraction to other women and her desire to have meaningful and enduring relationships with them. Along with the diary is a book, "Dusty Answer" which has been cataloged separately.

Related Material

Dusty Answer Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehman has been cataloged separately.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Lesbian community
• Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC
• Women--Social life and customs.