Did people of the 1700s record their dreams? Psychology was in its most embryonic stage, so while of course humans (and animals!) have always had dreams, I wonder what those of the 18th century thought of them? Did they consider them prophetic, meaningful, frightening? Probably all three.

And what did they dream about? I know my dreams have always included the artifices of my environment — cars, elevators, telephones, airplanes, television — machines.

So I imagine that the people I have been studying must have had dreams full of the elements of their own world. I imagine dreams of horses, firelight, snowstorms, nature. Perhaps of newspapers and books. Dreams of chores, of work. And of course, of people, always people.

Did they share common themes that humans have always dreamed about? Teeth falling out, or discovering oneself half-dressed in a crowd? Did they dream about falling, or even flying? Revolutionary War vets must have had horrible nightmares of the battles they experienced.

Maybe it was considered strange or embarrassing to share these things except among the most intimate companions, and certainly not written in letters. I don’t know. Of course the letters we have preserved are mostly “important” ones, but plain folk also wrote to each other every day, and we can’t know what little personal stories they might have shared.