These engrossing diaries, currently on exhibit at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian, provide exceptional snapshots into the lives of American artists - as well as European artists living in America. Entries cover such topics as New Year's Eve dinner parties, reflections on the war efforts of World War I in France, musings on dreams, marriages, friends, and the quotidian details that make up a life. The overall effect is transportive: readers may find themselves living, if only for a few moments, in other times and places, in the subjectivity and happenstance of these artists' days. Particularly noteworthy is Rubens Peale's diary entry from April 1865 recounting President Abraham Lincoln's assassination and funeral procession.