Priscilla Beals Shaw was born to Warren Shaw, farmer and Nancy Thomas on March 12, 1844 in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. From 1862-63 she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. After leaving Mount Holyoke, she returned to South Weymouth to teach until her marriage to James H. Bayley in 1867. Of her five children, three died at birth. Bayley died on March 30, 1924 at the age of eighty in Braintree, Massachusetts.

The Priscilla Beals Shaw Bayley (PBSB) Papers consist solely of a diary that she kept from January 1-September 10, 1863. The small size makes the entries very brief. She frequently writes about becoming a better Christian and overcoming her "wickedness." Sunday entries almost always include a reference to the morning sermon and accompanying Scriptural text. She also records thoughts on her studies, specific lectures (February 7, framework of body by Miss Homer), the Civil War (January 27, went to meeting to pray for soldiers; March 4, heard our forces engaged in decisive battle; May 7, Fredericksburg taken by rebels; May 11, Fort Gibson taken), domestic work, and her roommate Almeda Norton Tirrell, class of 1866.