Uncovering Ella Brown’s Diary at the Episcopal National Archives - May 2025

This spring, the Galion History Center team is hitting the road! We are uncovering some real “hidden history”, we’re traveling to the Episcopal National Archives in Austin, Texas to explore a rare and remarkable discovery: the only known primary source left behind by Ella Brown—a handwritten diary from 1874, chronicling a summer journey through the United Kingdom with her mother.

To make this deep dive into the past possible, our office will be closed May 5–9 while we’re on location conducting research.

Be sure to tune in as we discuss how we “discovered” the diary, how the diary ended up in Texas, and how GHC plans to share this extraordinary piece of hidden history with our community.

Attached are scans of Ella’s Diary that were sent to the Galion History Center in 2023 that show some of the diary’s entries from New York, London, and Liverpool and the green leather cover. The entirety of the diary could not be scanned due to the diary’s fragile condition.