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Abstract

This paper argues that historical consciousness is a conceptual system comprising interactive elements which allow evaluation of the temporal/historical universe and self placement in time/history. It further contends that historical consciousness operates in lived existence and may be analyzed through personal life records- diaries. The elements of historical consciousness, identified by assessing previous works on the phenomenon, comprise a model which is applied to seven British diaries written in the late eighteenth century. Application allows description of a specific manifestation of historical consciousness. In the tradition of mentalite we will see both how the diarists make sense of temporal/historical experience and what kind of sense they make.