This will be of interest only to some of you, but you could do a lot worse with a half hour than spending it with Dr. Finkel of the British Museum.

BTW, according to Dr. Finkel, the internet is not forever and he tells us why he thinks this is so, and how this enhances the importance of the written/printed word.

The Great Diary Project

A grand half hour of my time ! I found listening to Dr Finkel spellbinding. Amazing how he can non-stop narrating the diary project story ... he is so articulate, animated, his voice easy to listen to and I did not want him to stop.

I visited London October 2019 staying in Kensington and visiting more museums that I can remember including the British Museum. I wish I knew about Dr Finkel's project when I was in London.

For over 35 years, since my daughter's were born, I kept numerous journals and driving ledgers. Entries into the journals were primarily by me, a few entries by my wife, and later as the girls began to write by them. Also included were hand drawn maps and things we saw and did with contributions by each of us.

I never gave much thought to our ledgers and journals as they all eventually ended up inside a box, but after watch this video by Dr Finkel I now have a much different view on what we wrote and will write in the future.

Thanks for sharing.

Bravo to Dr. Finkel for taking on this quest to save real history. Thank you Para for posting it as well.

I have never been a diary person, but to see this and his enthusiasm to save as many of these diaries is great. Like he said, these books hold the lives once lived, from the mundane to the most important, of each of the authors. I bet there are some interesting stories and little jewels of wisdom just waiting to be discovered. I always thought it was sad how people and their history are easily disposed of once they pass on. Everyone has a story and a history that should mean more than a box that gets tossed into a dumpster once anyone who cared has moved on. In his way he is helping these people become eternal. Very cool.

I don't keep a diary; I keep <ahem> a journal.

I started it on Nov 30, 2006 after being stuck in commute traffic for at least two hours feeling my life drain away with every stop and go. There was a radio segment about a study that people who wrote 3 things they were thankful for each day were happier than people who didn't.

I started with doing daily but it has since become a weekly thing every Friday morning. There have been lapses but since I switched to weekly, I'm been consistent. I write a short highlight of events then I list three things I am grateful for.

I use a notebook journal with leather-like cover by Gallery Leather in Maine. I use a fountain pen to write.

I've finished one book already and am on my second. It's been 14 years, 2 months, and about 9 days since I started writing in my book of thanks.

Truth!

I haven’t watched the video yet but I will shortly.

I remember reading a very long time ago about a man who always carried a small notebook with him and every time he met someone he write their name down in the book as well as details on where and why they met.

He was up in the hundred thousand names.

Fascinating, he's really passionate about his project. I'm surprised he's only got about 11,000 diaries so far (maybe he just started?), but I can see where they could get overwhelmed when word get out and they start pouring in. He makes a lot of sense!

I'll admit, I was much more engaged by this talk than I expected to be! He's absolutely correct about the unique, raw, truthful perspective that can be uniquely gleaned from diaries. Almost everything else is written with a purpose or agenda. Very interesting viewpoint!

quote:

Originally posted by Tooky13:
Fascinating, he's really passionate about his project. I'm surprised he's only got about 11,000 diaries so far (maybe he just started?), but I can see where they could get overwhelmed when word get out and they start pouring in. He makes a lot of sense!

The Great Diary Project website mentions that they started this project in 2007.

My late mother kept a diary for the last 60 years of her life. When she passed, we removed a cache of small pocket diaries from her house. Every day was filled with occurrences, snippets of conversation, anniversaries, and data such as vaccinations, illnesses, etc. Priceless.

I keep my work journal, mostly, in a Mead composition book, with a fountain pen (paper quality and price seem to have really gone up) with a Gfeller.us cover.

Looks professional, it’s tough, and it’s not too difficult to scan in, if I want. (I usually just type in relevant bits to the file I expect my eventual successor to read.)

I just woke up, read the title as "Dairy". Got me wondering as I clicked on the thread title to open it, "What's up with the cows?" Lol.

I have a work journal of how I solved various tasks, including mistakes made. Hoping to learn from both to do more of the former. My cell phone ended up being my journal as it is so easy to snap pics and take quick notes.
Unfortunately, since I wasn't writing to the memory card, lost a lot of records when previous phone died.

Never thought of my life as being interesting enough to write mundane things down for anyone to read. I do like the idea mentioned about writing things for which to be thankful.

I do recall being at an antique market where we found a diary from about 1910. What struck my interest was the awesome handwriting styles.