On January 15, 1867, Martha Elizabeth Murdock McMillan of Cedarville, Ohio penned her first entry into a journal that she would maintain in multiple volumes until two weeks before her death in August 1913. Twenty-two year old Martha began her diary on the same day she married thirty-three year old James McMillan.
In her journals, Martha depicts the realities of married life, farm work, and community responsibilities. She writes her plans and disappointments. She documents the births of her ten children, and she transcribes her sorrow when she records three of their deaths. The journals reveal how she wove herself into the fabrics of both the Cedarville community and the Presbyterian churches in town.
Her writing also reveals her work and travels beyond Cedarville. Martha documents her lifelong interest and work in Sabbath Schools as well as her work in Ohio and Indiana on behalf of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Through her writing, Martha recorded the daily, ordinary, and the mundane, as well as the sublime and the poetic. Her life writing signifies to future generations the value of the ordinary, unsung life of faith.
In January of 2015, Cedarville University students in the American Women Writers course met Martha for the first time as they commenced an archival recovery project of Martha McMillan’s life writing. The eleven students in the class transcribed, analyzed, and historicized entries from the 1867, 1868, 1874, 1888, 1894, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1904, and 1913 journals. During the process, the class posed questions common to work with “life writing”, such as, “What is the value of recording the ordinary and the mundane?” and “What is the value of reading it, or making it available for others to read?” As the class members read and discussed the entries they were reading, they came to the conclusion that what the McMillan journals offer contemporary readers is a life-long portrait of what a life of faith looks like.
Dr. Michelle Wood and Mr. Lynn Brock speak with reception attendees this afternoon. On Monday, they received the Faculty Collaboration Award for their work on the Martha E. McMillan journal project.
Today, the library hosted a reception to celebrate Martha’s writing. The American Women Writers class, in collaboration with the Centennial Library staff and the Dean of Library Services, has worked to reinstate Martha into the Cedarville community and to inspire future readers with the idea that an ordinary life of faith is both valuable and significant.
* The Martha E. McMillan display will remain available for viewing until May 2. For more, please see Josiah Clemons’ article on the university website.
Tags: cedarville, events, martha e. mcmillan
Posted in: events, Martha E. McMillan reception