Title: Lady Susan Agnes Macdonald (née Bernard), wife of Sir John A. Macdonald
Place: Ottawa, Ont.. Date: May 1881
PHOTOGRAPHER: Topley, William James, 1845-1930
National Archives of Canada, negative no. PA-027050

The Public Archives has acquired the original handwritten diary of Lady Susan Agnes Macdonald, wife of Sir John A. Macdonald. Some 160 pages in length, the diary covers chiefly the 1867-1869 period.

Much of the diary is personal. Lady Macdonald writes of her relationship with her husband in the years of their marriage, her strong religious beliefs and her continuing efforts to improve herself in the Victorian tradition of "self-improvement".

The diary is interesting as a social history as well, with descriptions of dinner parties and receptions, travelling about Ottawa in a sleigh in winter, attending church and meetings of the executive of the Ottawa Orphans' Home.

In spite of her resolution on the first page of the diary not to discuss politics, she did record some comments on the political side of her life. She writes of Sir John's wooing of John Sandfield Macdonald for the premiership of Ontario and the role of women in politics.

The diary is unique in that nothing like it exists for any other Prime Minister's wife. Archivist Maureen Hoogenraad comments, "Although it covers a relatively brief time period, it provides a fascinating view of Sir John A. Macdonald and Lady Macdonald."