Dear Diary….

Just watched a very interesting programme on BBC4 hosted by Richard E Grant about people that write diaries. He chose 5 people and their own diaries that had been published. Some of these people were known to me, others were not. Each made me think how life changing these books can be whether for good or ill.

As an archivist, diaries do form a very interesting part to personal collections. Like it was said in the programme you are there with the person on that very day that they have written. It can at times feel like a voyeur into a life and thoughts that are far too personal for someone unconnected to be reading. Somehow you have to make sense of this and return it to some sort of order within the collection.

I thought to myself I am not a diarist but then what have I been doing sporadically for the last couple of months? Only with this it can have an immediate audience and reaction.

December and New Year

There are some points in the year where archiving comes into its own. As well as being a time of feasting, giving and general happiness, December is also a time to reflect, remember and record before starting afresh in January. December is usually the time for archives across the UK to close and carry out stock taking duties for a week or usually two! An important activity which can be met by dissatisfaction by users but if this did not take place then I feel the dissatisfaction would grow a hundredfold!

More generally we are bombarded with programmes on the television and radio listing the best 50 pop songs, adverts and more poignant items about news stories and events that shaped that particular year. This time we see it not only of this year 2009 but of the first decade of the 00’s  and what we have achieved or not as the case may be. Where has the last 9 years gone?

Thank you for reading my blog over the last couple of months it has been a real joy to find out other people like and are interested in my little snippets on archives and life.

AG