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May 6, 2011

ULM's Kauffman to speak to Historical & Genealogical Society of Monroe

Associate Professor of Communication Dr. Bette J. Kauffman will deliver a presentation titled "The Diary of Sarah Lois Wadley" at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, May 8.

Kauffman will give the presentation on Wadley to the Historical & Genealogical Society of Monroe at the Louis Locke Room of the Ouachita Parish Public Library.

Sarah Wadley and her family moved from Amite to near Monroe just before the beginning of the Civil War.

Her brother served as a quartermaster in the Confederate cavalry and her father served for a time as a Colonel in the Confederate Army responsible for rail transport.

Wadley's diary, begun when she was 15 years old, is viewed as important historical documentation, not only of the war from a southern woman's perspective, but also of social life and customs.

"Her diary intrigues me as the expression of an intelligent, articulate and opinionated woman who both accepted and chafed somewhat at the restricted gender roles of the Civil War period," Kauffman said

"It is to me poetic justice that her diary and those of other southern women have become important historical documents."

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