#donating diaries

[chaotic-archaeologist]

hey so I've been transcribing/typing up my grandma's line-a-day diaries from 1937-1943. it's mostly for my mom and aunts and so on, and of course they're mostly about teen flings and skating rinks and movies and so on. but I've seen posts on here, including yours, about historians being interested in even very mundane journals. so I guess basically the question is, how can I/my mom get the typed up versions into the hands of someone who would find them useful in a historical sense?

Historians are absolutely interested in seemingly mundane records of the past! However, any interest from an institution is probably going to be in the physical documents themselves, rather than a transcription. I don't doubt that you've done a careful job, but the reality is that the pages your grandmother wrote in will contain vastly more information than you could ever hope to record—penmanship, the paper itself, the kind of pen that was used, residue, etc.

If you are willing to part with the primary source documents, I'm sure than an institution willing to take them would also be happy to get copies of your transcriptions, but I think it is unlikely that they would be interested in solely the typed up versions.

Most institutions have some sort of theme/mission for their collection. Maybe that's 1960s counter-culture, women of 19th century America, immigrant experiences, women's suffrage(political movements, time periods, specific events, etc.).

The best way to find an institution willing to take the diary is to identify themes that come up in your grandmother's writing, and then search for collections that are dedicated to that theme. Then you can reach out to the archivists and/or curators and see if they'd be interested in accessioning the diary. You might need to be prepared for them to say no—the curation crisis is real, and storage space is in constant demand.

There's also no guarantee that giving the diary to a collection will mean it becomes part of research. It would need to be cataloged, and then found by the right person doing the right research. Your transcriptions might help with this.

However, if you'd rather hold on to the diary—which is totally understandable—you could publish the typed entries on your own website. If you go that route, try to do your best to tag/denote any of the themes and events your grandmother wrote about to better the chances of it showing up in an internet search. It's also possible that an institution might be interested in helping with/platforming some sort of internet presence, so it doesn't hurt to ask.

Here are some links to previous posts I've made about keeping a diary. Looking through the notes might also be helpful.

How to write a diary for future historians

What should I write about?

If anyone else has advice, please feel free to chime in! This isn't exactly my area of expertise, so I'm always happy to be corrected.

-Reid

[marblerose-rue]

click for better quality!!

here are my full designs for these two <3

[blessthishouse]

I wish working didn’t make me feel so anxious. I always take longer than everyone else to finish my tasks and it reminds me of being in school and getting left behind (and isolated) for not being able to keep up. I didn’t have a good experience with my very first job and I think with what’s been happening lately, I need to continue working through that experience

[skyelights-xox]

Dumb little theory rattling around in my brain but. What if Phillip killed Caleb at Eclipse Lake. And that's why the fucker was like "My team did not make it back" in the diary entry. and then the whole "This Is Ma Grave" thing Hunter does in ep 9 is even worse because it was where he technically died. What then. it is 2:23 in the morning

[doveotion]

also also. if anyone here has ever gotten a breast reduction please lmk your experience 🫶

[kaneseatheadrest]

Contextualizing An Aspect of Millennial

Its important to understand where cognitive biases may be rooted in. What words and phrases, symbols, tones, inflections, etc, trigger this insecurity in me. And then how the system has reinforced that with propaganda campaigns. Like how I've always been told that "my generation was the 'participation trophy generation'". But despite how much that messaging imprinted on me I cant recall ever getting one single participation trophy in my lifetime and if I did the impact it had on me feeling 'special' is little to none. Whereas I'm still trying to deprogram from that propaganda to this day. It helps to feel like I have an understanding on why I feel the way I feel.

Contextualizing that helped me understand my core fundamental values. And made me realize that I'm in favor of positive reinforcements as a response to failure. Because when you dissect it and consider your instinctive moral compass it's easy to draw the conclusions that...

The long term effects of that reinforcement would logically result in atleast a slight improvement in mental health. Promotes values that there is no finite measurement or requirements for success and would free atleast of some self-conscious oppression.

The other counterpoint I recall seeing is that 'it discourages competition' which is complete dog shit if you ask me. I don't think these things cancel each other out in anyway. You can still uphold a tier system for rewards if you want incentives that encourages trying your best and the sanctity of competition and still want to reinforce the runners up with a smaller incentive.  "Second place is steak knives"

Something to encourage active participation in the first place but giving a reason to 'participate harder' next time if you want to first place reward.

[faerymercy]

in the past month i got my driver's license (!!) and got a job (!!!)

it's been kinda tough adjusting to not having free time 24/7 ;_; but having some spending money is worth it :3

[imeminemp3]

why am i getting a "friday footy" kfc ad. bro it's good friday

[silverspleen]

The aforementioned dead patient was something I had been wondering about for a while, the three kinds of death you run into at the hospital as a cardiac sonographer are -

They did not call to cancel the echo order, the nurse is not there to tell you not to go into the patient's room, and the patient is lying in their bed but they are actually just straight up dead and not hooked up to anything and it takes you a minute or two to go, "hold on a fucking second... this person is DEAD" and then you float around the entrance of the room until the nurse shows up to be like "don't go in there!! patient expired!!" and you get to be like "m-hm YEAH I KNOW. Cancel the order." And you are disgruntled at the team for a. wasting your time and b. interrupting the final sleep of some poor person where you were very nearly lightly disrespectful to a corpse (by trying to shake them gently awake and putting stickers on them, as you do to asleep patients)

They called you because there is literally a Code Blue crisis situation happening and there's twenty people in the room, possibly doing CPR or giving meds or giving blood, like a well-oiled machine where you are a massive interloper with your giant ass ultrasound machine being in the way and asking "when do you want pictures? what do you want to see?", and you either get to scan before, during, or after lifesaving procedures, and if you (not the patient, not the family, for this will be a tragedy) are very, very lucky you may get pictures after the patient's heart has stopped moving but before they call the end of the code (and declare the patient officially dead) which means you are there, in the room, not-so-gently (because those pictures are hard to get after CPR) smashing on someone's chest with a piece of plastic as they die and you get to see the heart stop and the blood clot up almost immediately, and it's funny to see something that moves so much not doing much of anything at all.

This patient is already considered braindead and literally being kept alive with machines and they need pictures for organ donation ASAP I hope you know how to burn a CD

And by wondering about I mean, wanted to experience, because I'm a morbid fucker who works in a hospital and wonders about death in a hospital and how it works and what it's like, because that's a crisis situation not many people get to experience in their lives and good news! These are all things I have actually experienced as a cardiac imaging tech in the hospital. Writing it down is funny because I did not expect the trajectory of my life to go in that direction even at all.

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Okay, so if we write diaries for future historians where would we leave it? For like a student doing research in " usual" life during 2022.

Here's a post I wrote about the process of donating diaries. If you're willing to part with them, entrusting them to the care of a professional institution is a pretty good way to go. Museums and archives are pretty likely to know how to store your materials and make them available to future scholars.

Giving them to the safekeeping of a close family member or loved on is also a valid option. Things like diaries are often passed down through generations, although you do risk the chain of custody becoming broken at some point.

Here's a post I made about how to write a diary for future historians using archival materials so that the paper and ink won't fade too much over time. Making sure that the integrity of your record remains intact is just as important as leaving it in a good place to be found. Unfortunately, this means that digital diaries are probably not likely to survive. Digital media is notoriously difficult to conserve, and by the time someone gets around to reading it in a couple decades or centuries, it may be nearly impossible to access that word file or google doc.

-Reid

[fooltofancy]

If you’re worried about money for cats I sent some money on kofi just thought i’d let u know!

ahhhh no they're only gonna run out of wet food lmao, they will do all right 😭

[nonconformingwannabelover]

Some things about me:

• I’m about to turn 19.

• I live at home with my parents in a two bedroom house.

• I’m an art student.

• I can’t afford to pay for college.

• I can’t afford to pay for rent.

• I can’t afford to buy my own food.

If you want to know my story, please keep reading my blog.

If you want to donate, my PayPal is https://www.paypal.me/honeyperidot, I don’t have a bank account for myself but I send all money from my PayPal to my friend and she withdraws it and helps me buy what I need.

I only use the money for necessities. I appreciate every single person who donates or reblogs.

[toastsnaffler]

i got a humble bundle like 2 years ago bc there were 2 specific games i wanted from it + it was cheaper than buying either of them individually + I didn't even LOOK at the other stuff in it but now every couple of months someone will mention a game that sounds cool as hell and I'll search it up on steam and discover I already own it. gift that keeps on giving for reaaal

[colazerovanillacan]

i never thought about asking here but i have bigger hope here..

so i lost over 88lbs (40kg) and yeah i still struggle with my ed. but its not the weight i’m at rn. it’s because i struggle with lose skin and body tissue. only a operation can help. so i started a gfm. if you can’t donate than maybe repost it so more can see 🥹🫶🏻🙏🏻

[nuzzle]

i spent most of my day reorganizing my lolita room and color coordinating my closet i am so exhausted and now i have to do it all over again tomorrow for my bedroom T___T

[ribcageteeth]

getting hrt through kaiser: Hmm, you’ve been speaking to the gender therapist for six months now, and still don’t think you’re normal cis? Well, we’ll send in another referral for a prescription, hopefully someone responds to this one, but it’ll be the third try, so no guarantee. Also, the pharmacist might not get the memo that it’s covered, so the first month’s copay will be $300, is that ok?

getting hrt through planned parenthood: Christ, you’ve had dysphoria for how long? That suuuucks, I’m so sorry you’re going through that! Well, here’s a script for three months of boy juice, you can pick that up in an hour, also, I heard you mention a needle phobia, so I went and found an auto-injector so small you won’t even see or feel the poke. If your insurance provider gives you any trouble, I will personally burn their house down for you. See you in two weeks for bloodwork, have fun! ^_^