Sarah Cowper (née Holled) (1644–1720) was a prolific diarist, leaving behind around 2300 pages of diary notes. She also compiled eleven commonplace books, whose contents demonstrate her wide-ranging knowledge of poetry, philosophy, and politics. Her diaries are of great interest to historians of gender and social relations, as Cowper grapples with how to present herself as a devoted and therefore morally righteous wife despite a contentious relationship with her husband, Sir William Cowper. Her journals provide an insight into the political machinations of the Whig party, interdenominational relations between conformists and Quakers, tensions between masters and servants, contemporary political scandals, legal trials, and women’s reading and educational practices.