Appeal from Dr Irving Finkel – The Great Diary Project

Have you heard of the Great Diary Project, the brainchild of Dr Irving Finkel of the British Museum? It’s a fantastic initiative that rescues, archives and makes publicly available a growing collection of unpublished diaries of ordinary people.

It’s a sad fact that old diaries are at risk – life-long diary keepers frequently never make provision for what should happen to their diaries long term (i.e when they pass), and people who inherit them often either dispose of them unthinkingly or because they feel they don’t want to pry by reading them, put them away to collect dust without another thought but the work of the Great Diary Project is to rescue diaries like these from dust, skips and bonfires and look after them for the future as important items of history. We could go on to tell you more, but Dr Finkel himself in this video, passionately and eloquently talks about this subject and why others in the future could learn so much about the UK’s social past from these special life memoirs.

If you are holding onto any diaries of a passed loved one and would like to donate them to this historical cause, download the Diary Deposit Form here and send them to: The Great Diary Project, Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate, City of London, EC2M 4QH.

Also, if you’re currently an avid journal writer, then why not make provision in your own Will for them to be given to the project. We are here for all your Will needs, contact our friendly and expert team today to #makeawill on 0191 567 0465 or email us at: [email protected]

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