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Journal of Julia Wilbur containing brief entries summarizing personally significant events, dated May 1, 1844 to December 31, 1862; there are corresponding entries in her larger journals where content is elaborated upon. Documents Wilbur's teaching career; participation in the anti-slavery movement, including attendance at anti-slavery meetings, work on the Underground Railroad, and association with Frederick Douglass; observations of racism against African Americans and racial discrimination in education; extensive attendance at various lectures and meetings on subjects including science, temperance, teaching, abolition, and women's rights; presence during speeches of prominent abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, Wendell Phillips, Lucretia Mott, and William Lloyd Garrison; participation in the women's rights movement and association with Susan B. Anthony; family relationships, particularly with her niece Alfreda Bigelow; and work during the Civil War aiding Contraband (fugitive slaves who escaped to Union territory during the war).

Wilbur wrote page-length entries summarizing personally significant events for each day of the year. Primarily documents events of the Civil War and her time in Alexandria, Virginia, where she worked alongside individuals such as Harriet Ann Jacobs aiding Contraband (enslaved people who escaped to Union territory during the war). Also describes spending extensive time with her family in New York. The memoranda at the end include literary excerpts as well as demographic statistics for Washington, D.C., and Virginia over time.