The diaries record Marian McNeill's social activities and her work as a writer and lecturer and on various conmittees. Most of the entries are brief, and some years are very incomplete. In 1902 she was studying in Paris, where she was visited by friends; MS.26199 contains a fuller description of this visit, and also entries for October of the same year which are missing from MS.26198. After further study in Germany in 1903, she went to Glasgow University, and in 1918 to Edinburgh College of Art. In 1920-1921 she was in Greece and Palestine. MS.26221 concerns a visit to South Wales to organise a Peacemakers' Pilgrimage in 1926.