Abstract
It is apparent through the inscriptions made in nineteenth-century friendship albums that the young women who wrote in and owned the albums were highly concerned with eternity, with things they believed would last forever. This preoccupation with eternity raises the question of how young women in the nineteenth century related to time and to religion, both of which are inherently concerned with eternity. These topics will therefore be addressed in brief discussions of how nineteenth-century conceptions of time and the Second Great Awakening affected young women. This will be followed by an examination of the friendship album verses themselves, which contrast things that last forever with those that will not. The verses reveal that young women often condemned the temporal nature of things such as youth and suffering, and in contrast praised the enduring and eternal nature of things such as God and friendship.
Recommended Citation
Blouin, Jenifer
(2016)
"Eternal Perspectives in Nineteenth-Century Friendship Albums,"
The Hilltop Review: Vol. 9:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/hilltopreview/vol9/iss1/7
