Wilbur wrote page-length entries summarizing personally significant events for each day of the year. Primarily documents events of the Civil War and early postbellum period, including her relief work for Contraband (enslaved people who escaped to Union territory during the war) and freedmen. Relocated from Alexandria, Virginia, to work out of Washington, D.C., during this time. Records the assassination and funeral of Abraham Lincoln. Attended multiple post-war trials including that of Henry Wirz. The memoranda at the end include a list of patients, many Native American, who Wilbur interacted with at the L'Ouverture Hospital for people of color in Alexandria.

Julia Wilbur papers (explore contents)