Privacy in Colonial New England

This study is an investigation of personal privacy in colonial New England. Was there such a concept? What did it mean? In what ways and for what purposes did individuals want privacy? Did attitudes towards privacy or general conditions affecting its availability change in the colonial era? What kind of balance was strong upon such competing interests as privacy, the need for society, the physical conditions of daily life, and the practice of surveillance?

On the surface the Puritans, who were the driving force behind the establishment of the New England colonies, seem to have held values antithetic to concern for personal privacy. The apparently ambivalent attitude of the early Puritans toward privacy make them ideal subjects for examination. The time period involved was the crucial early modern period when so many of our contemporary values were taking shape. The American attitude to privacy emerged from a background of English traditions, and the Puritans were among the first to begin the adaptation of English values to the New World. Finally, New England in the colonial period left enough records of its society to make it feasible a careful study of privacy and conditions for its enjoyment.