The John B. Kinne Diary consists of a transcription of Kinne's eighty-six page diary kept from 1898-1899, during the campaign in the Philippines. The document was transcribed by Major Dana Wright of St. John, North Dakota.

The diary describes Kinne's entrance into Company B, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. Kinne was a student at Fargo College, when he heeded the Governor’s call for volunteers. Kinne detailed the trip the volunteers traveled and the delays and encounters they met along the way to “'Frisco”. The troops camped at 'Frisco until orders were sent out to station among the Philippine Islands.

Kinne wrote about the details of the volunteers' daily routine of rising early, shower or bathing, breakfast, roll call, police duty, cleaning, drill, and inspection. Once on the islands, accounts of battle and orders they received were recorded by him. Almost daily events he encountered were written down. The long journey back from the islands was also documented, along with the reunion of family members and soldiers, and his entrance back into Fargo College.

The John B. Kinne Diary has been digitized and is available on the UND Scholarly Commons.