Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Nicole Sackley
Second Advisor
Dr. James Broomall
Abstract
“Crafting the ‘Greatest Classics’ of Girlhood: Advice Columns, Diaries, and the Emotional Lives of American Teenage Girls, 1918-1939” explores how American teenage girls who came of age between 1918 and 1939 used writing as a form of expression. As a response to the heightened anxieties—the “storm and the stress”—that was caused by the social structure of the era, teenage girls used writing in advice column letters and diaries as a form of self-fashioning, self-reflection, and self-therapy to discuss courtship, dating, and romantic relationships. Additionally, depending on the medium, writing acted as a form of advice seeking and community support. Writing thus served as an outlet for processing one’s own feelings of jealousy, love, and popularity.
The first chapter explores how girls used letters as a way to navigate their romantic lives. By examining one of the biggest syndicated advice columns dedicated to American teenage girls, “Advice to Girls” by Annie Laurie reveals the importance of seeking community and guidance through a “public” audience. By making selective decisions during the letter-writing process, including the ways she described her situation, teenage girls were able to use writing as a way to articulate her anxiety-driven emotions and mold her semi-public image.
The second chapter explores how girls used diaries as a way to craft their words for themselves. Encouraged by adults as a way to manage their intense emotions, girls utilized their private diaries to document what they felt to be significant in their lives. Whether it be their daily schedule or a detailed reflection of a memory, diaries served as more than a tool for emotional management. Rather, diaries were customizable spaces where a girl could fashion her image by using her own words and ponder her emotional reactions regarding specific events. Ultimately, the diaries of teen girls reflect the anxieties that the social system of courtship, dating, and romantic relationships placed upon them, where girls struggled privately to navigate their emotions of jealousy, love, and popularity.
Recommended Citation
King, Kylee Violet, "Crafting the “Greatest Classics” of Girlhood: Advice Columns, Diaries, and the Emotional Lives of American Teenage Girls, 1918-1939" (2026). Honors Theses. 1936.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/1936