Diaries and love letters.

Found MIL diaries after my then separated husband died. My BIL is a half brother it seems and after a bit of detective work found his birth certificate. Who knew? I have never been told in the 40 years that I knew the family. Thank you diaries x

I kept diaries spasmodically for many years; nothing these days apart from appointments. Recently, I unearthed my past and have been slowly going through. I too would not want my deepest thoughts unearthed after I'm gone, so I've started a sort of 'ledger' where I enter dates, events and people who may be of interest to my family in the future. My daughter thinks this is a good idea as family history is important to her.

I have nothing that strangers could not read or find in my house but my dad kept a diary all his life. He used the tiny Smith's diaries and worked out his money and wrote about every holiday they ever went on, what they did and what they ate. I have them all but not sure what to do with them. There is nothing personal in them and they are very hard to read as the writing is so small.

I burnt them all when I moved two years ago....

I have a collection of letters (masses from all and sundry) for about a 20 year period until I assume letter writing went out of fashion. Think it might be rather fun to read, then destroy. Also 50 years (!) of diaries ( in addition to the scrapbooks), but not sure what to do with these. Might be worth a read and some censorship or just a big ? bonfire.

I kept diaries for 8 years on advice of the child protection officer , my sons partner had severe mental health issues and still does. She was violent, alcoholic and we had our gd most of the time. When she killed my son my gd was with us at the time. The diaries were used in court, they helped to send her to prison. Only for 8 years though.

I have some teen diaries, 1964 - 1970. I am so glad I kept them. Whenever I dip into one of them I am transported back to whatever it was that day. Might be seeing John Mayall on Eel Pie Island, for example or a Friday night at the Crown. I can remember my clothes, who I saw, just about everything even actual conversations. These days I can barely remember what I did last week, let alone 50years ago!

Sheilasue

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My DH never wrote me any love letters but I had an affaire de coeur a few years ago, in Paris and decided, when it was all over (after 2 years) that I would not keep the daily letters he sent me over that time, beautiful though they were right to the end.

'Ah, at least we had Paris...'

I have a bundle of my father's letters to my mum when she was in Buxton hospital for 6 weeks ( she had rheumatoid arthritis )and they were trying were trying experimental treatments .I was the youngest of 3 girls and I was 5 at the time .My father worked night's and my grandma came to look after us.His letters were telling my mum what he had bought from the butchers and bakers ect and what he had cooked for our teas and when had vacuumed ect but they were so full of love and how much he missed her and how he had kissed her when the nurses wernt looking on visiting days.I could read them again and again they are beautiful to read .They had been together since they were 16 and truly adored one another.

BradfordLass - your post brought tears to my eyes! ?

When we were moving house about 20 years ago we looked at all our letters from the seventies then binned them. We didn't like the idea of anyone else reading them. I was a prolific diary writer in my teens but when I met my now husband I found him reading my diaries. I was furious and threw them all on the fire. I have no photos of past boyfriends.

My paternal Grandfather died when my Father was nearly 5 ,his mother didnt keep anything for him.
She later re married to a lovely chap , it was really sad one day when my father said he couldnt picture what his father looked like , as in those days children were not allowed in hospitals where he died 6 weeks after a mining accident.
That what started me on the family tree but I never found anyone that had a photo of my Grandad

When I was younger I kept an odd diary or two, mainly as I have recently discovered, to write how much money I had left at the end of the month when I was a student Nurse.I discovered a lovely piece in one diary, which made me so happy re living a certain time with my favourite boy friend, no details but I described the fun we had together, lots of things which I had forgotten, it gave me a lovely feeling again and the appreciation of what a lovely time we spent together.I felt like writing a book,and I dont mind if anyone reads the diary when I am no longer around,
it will spread such happiness.

When my mum died I found she had kept all of the letters I had written to her whilst living abroad for 20-odd years. I re-read them and although they brought back some great memories I was shocked to realise how much of the true happenings in my life I'd withheld, some quite shocking so I guess I didn't want to upset her at the time. I'm sure she never knew ...

I have just been reading my great aunt's travel diary from feb 1900 to Aug 1st 1900. She was travelling to Calais, Florence Switzerland etc. Very interesting. It is going to a museum with he papers.

I have a few diaries that cover a couple of weeks or sometimes just one day in the year, I keep them all. After I've gone someone will read them and discover the inner thoughts I've often kept hidden from the world around me. I hope nobody is hurt but instead will realise how difficult life's been at times and appreciate that we got through it as a family. I have 10 years' worth of my mums diaries, obviously someone else in family took the more recent ones, they make for good reading even though are about who visited, Drs appointments, observations on news items etc, boring to anyone not close to her but a lovely way for me to connect with her on the days when I suddenly miss her, days which I think happen for most of us now and again. I don't think mine will have the same impact as aren't written regularly as I'm often too unwell to contemplate writing anything. I have a few letters between husband and myself in early days of our courtship, I hope my children read those after I'm gone, they'll laugh at them for being so mundane but I'd fallen in love at first sight and wanted this young man who'd gone abroad for a month to keep me in his mind despite the distance between us so wrote about everyday things as if I was talking to him, he obviously did keep me in his thoughts as he proposed 5 weeks after getting home, 3 months from meeting. I have a letter from my Dad to my Mum written just after I was born, it's very sweet and very formal, he hadn't seen me at that point and was looking forward to visiting us both, I'm guessing the postal service was very reliable back in the 1950s. So yes, I'll leave things for my children to read after I've gone, I hope they'll love them as much as I love reading the things I have from my parents.

SheilaSue, you have my greatest respect for what you achieved, I'm so sorry it was necessary.

My parents kept everything- incl engagement and wedding gift lists from 1953 - fascinating reading, my old school reports not so!! I have letters and few photos of another not DH - can’t bring myself to part with them yet. DH had papers from his dad that he was instructed to burn without reading, he did so and, years later we discover DH parents not married and father had a son in previous time when married. DH has no living relatives apart from this half brother we have no way of finding - very sad

My father lived into his 90's and kept a daily diary from a small child. As the family genealogist there are many gems of interest eg writing of hear radio for first time and excitement of his mother getting one then complaining that it is 'on' all the time, his first bicycle etc. He was working in London thru the war years and served in the Home Guard. I thought these might be of general interest and found a place that would take them. This is the
Bishopsgate Institute 230 Bishopsgate, London.

If you donate you can sign off on the terms eg for general view or only limited to research, or a time restriction.

I was a great letter writer in my time and must have kept every letter I received. They were much treasured at the time as I worked abroad at various stages. Only now I am 'culling' same trying to reduce clutter. I shall keep those of dear friends and relatives now deceased. Some I have 'returned to sender' as perhaps of more interest to them now.

No diaries since my mother found mine when I was a teenager and gave me hell plus burned it! I have letters to and from my ex husband and hundreds of photos of the family up until we divorced. I have a different partner now of 20 years, he’s younger than me so I may die before him. He would hate to see the letters and photos but I shall tell my children to deal with them rather than him if it ever arises. We don’t have a house together at the moment but may do in the future.

Diaries are very important for historians of social history, and there is a dedicated centre for collecting them (and photos, holiday books etc). I have already sent a cd of my school scrapbook made when I was 8 years old and living in Aden (dad was R.A.F.). I intend my many diaries to end up there when I am too old to care about the contents, as I know my offspring won't want them.
The British Library promoted The Great Diary Project not too long ago.
Here is a link to their website if anyone is interested: www.thegreatdiaryproject.co.uk/

I have a lovely letter - just the one - written by my mother to my father in late August 1939. He was in the army (a regular) and had been called back from leave at his mother’s so, it was forwarded. It spoke of their concern about the ’worrying, troubled times’ they were living through and expressing a hope that it would not pan out as expected. They were engaged at that time and married in June 1940.

My father gave me the letter after her death but, I had seen it while she was still alive.

Some very touching posts/memories on this thread so thank you for sharing. Sheilasue, a terrible shame you had to keep diaries for those horrific reasons, and that the British justice system (and maybe mental healthcare services) seem to have failed you and your family

I'm currently in the process of sorting out stuff, culling possessions, organising etc - I think may have a few old diaries that need shredding and the last time I looked through some photos there were loads that I have no recollection whatsoever of the people in them so there must be a lot of photos I can now get rid of without feeling bad about it - I will drag them into the living room so if there are any that mean anything to my better half he can have them; a good friend of his died last year and I was able to find a photo of the friend to give him and I think I have a couple more of his old friends. I'd like to leave things easier to sort out to make the process less painful for him. Need to crack on with re-writing my will too!

I have kept a diary since I was 16. They are interesting to look back on. Especially things from when my children were small. One thing that confuses me is from early diaries I mention people by first name only, but I can't remember who they were . Now at the start of the year I write the name in full to jog my memory for when I look back later.

Caro 57

Have you thought of contacting ‘Long Lost Family’ re DH’s half brother?