Diaries and Other Writings, 1830-1905 and undated

The bulk of this series consists of the diaries of Madge Preston and a few of May Preston McNeal and William Preston. Many of the entries in Madge Preston's diaries relate to weather conditions; her health or that of others; the management of the farm, including enslaved people and servants; and visits to and from neighbors. In addition, Madge Preston also writes of fears for her safety in her relationship with her husband. Entries throughout the diaries mention his altered, violent disposition and her worries. In the months following William Preston’s assault, Madge Preston wrote on August 27, 1860, that "we had another unpleasant scene this morning – indeed the scenes are becoming so frequent I feel as if I should have to take some steps to put an end to them!" And on February 24, 1865, she wrote that she may "report Mr. Preston as insane and a dangerous person to be living with."

Following May Preston's graduation from St. Joseph's, Madge Preston's diaries for 1867 and 1868 relate details of her European sojourn with her daughter May, including a visit to the Vatican. For her graduation from St. Joseph's in 1867, May Preston wrote "Farewell to St. Joseph's," a poem saying goodbye to the school, its environs, and people. Sometime after her parents died, May wrote a short piece stating that her parents "rendered aid and assistance all during the war to the confederate cause" and that "I have always done what I was able to preserve the memory of the Southern cause." Further she wrote, "They always taught me and my children to love and revere the memory of the 'Lost Cause.' "

In 1861 William Preston drafted his thoughts on President Abraham Lincoln, whom he disliked. Madge Preston also expressed a strong dislike for Lincoln in her diaries. In July 1863, within days of the Battle of Gettysburg, William Preston and a friend visited the battlefield. In a letter he described the visit. They saw wounded soldiers being loaded onto railroad cars and he wrote, "This is our first introduction to the living, actual horrors of war, and look at it as we might, we were unable to eviscerate a single spark of what the poets or the noisy philanthropists of our time call glory!" He also described his visit to "Cemetery Hill," grieving that "It was indeed a sickening sight. The beautiful brow of nature disfigured by the fiendish wrath of man is well calculated to awaken horror and disgust."

The series is arranged alphabetically by document type and then by the name of the writer.