American Diary Project

American Diary Project

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We collect, archive, and honor American stories in diaries and journals. We are the diary archive for everyday folks.

The American Diary Project was founded in October of 2022 with one simple vision: Rescue diaries and preserve the writing of everyday Americans. OUR MISSION
Honor the diversity and depth of the human experience by providing a free—and accessible—public educational resource that preserves, archives, and digitizes unpublished diaries and journals from everyday Americans. We are proud to be a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit run entirely by volunteers who are, you guessed it, everyday Americans. We provide a unique glimpse into ordinary life across the U.S. and throughout time, a sustainable free resource for primary source research, and a permanent home for American diaries. Note: Our digitized collection is accessible for purposes of education and research. We’ve indicated what we know about copyright and rights of privacy, publicity, or trademark. Due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information. We are eager to hear from any rights owners, so that we may obtain accurate information. Upon request, we’ll remove material from public view while we address a rights issue. FAIR USE DISCLAIMER
The American Diary Project makes digital versions of collections accessible in the following situations:
-They are in the public domain
-The rights are owned by American Diary Project
-American Diary Project has permission to make them accessible
-They were written 25+ years ago (if explicit permission cannot be obtained)
-They are for education and research purposes as a legal fair use, or
-There are no known restrictions on use

Photos from American Diary Project's post 09/29/2026

Sharing a handful of spreads from Saturday's Creative Journal Workshop at our archive in Cleveland. Such a perfect day for journaling with friends. 🖤

By the way, if you're new here, be sure to sign up for our newsletter "In the Margins" on our website to stay in touch!

09/18/2026

We 🖤 visitors!

We might be biased, but journal people are the BEST! Case in point: Hollie! Featured here with founder Kate.

So great seeing you today!

09/16/2026

Wise words from one of the diaries in our collection.

09/14/2026

Congrats to Julie, the winner of our Moleskine giveaway from the Inkubator conference.

🎉🎉🎉

Note: Moleskine is not affiliated with this giveaway but it would be pretty rad if they wanted to partner with us someday, hint hint

09/12/2026

That’s a wrap on Inkubator!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our table. We had so many wonderful conversations with writers, poets, diarists, booksellers, nonprofits, and more.

Huge thank you to our board president, Bonny, who drove down from Michigan and board director Shaina who created many of our handmade journals!

The Cleveland lit scene is highly underrated! Thank you Literary Cleveland for hosting a fabulous event.

09/10/2026

Hope to see you at the Inkubator book fair Friday and Saturday 9/11 to 9/12, downtown Cleveland.

09/05/2026

Archiving is so satisfying 🤌

08/28/2026

Come on in...

Through 2 doors, 3 flights of stairs, and 1 more door... you'll find our archives.

We don't claim to be easy to reach, but we are worth it. 😉

In all seriousness, we love the historic building that we're in but incredibly frustrated that it does not have an elevator.

Since we rent our space, there's not much we can do to change that and appreciate the effort it takes to visit us in person.

"It's been heaven here, and I don't have to wake up for another 5 days." 08/23/2026

Wise and beautiful words here from volunteer Sam, as he reflects on reading a Frank DiOrio diary from our collection.

"It's been heaven here, and I don't have to wake up for another 5 days." American Diary Project — Featured Entry #1

Photos from American Diary Project's post 08/23/2026

Here are a few spreads from Saturday's Creative Journal Workshop at our Cleveland archive. ✍️

If you're looking for a little more analog creativity in your life, join us at the next workshop in September.

Grab a ticket on our website.

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Address


17138 Lorain Avenue #201
Cleveland, OH
44111

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