“Wasn’t I silly?”
Those are the words of one of our very first authors, reflecting on how she ignored her father’s advice to keep a diary. Little did she know then how useful that record of her life might have been in the future and how interesting it might have proved for future generations of her family.
Although it has relatively recently come to be seen as the preserve of the angsty teenage girl, diary-writing, or journalling, is a centuries-old practice and one which, while evolving, is still thriving.
What is it that makes our fascination with diaries endure? And what compels us, in a time when anyone can broadcast their thoughts and feelings on social media, to still write them?
In this post, we reflect on important diarists of the past and their influence, the benefits of keeping a diary and how yours could help you to write your very own LifeBook.
Citizen journalists
Eighty-eight years ago, on 30th January, 1937, a call was put out by social scientists in Britain for ‘observers’ or ‘citizen journalists’ to anonymously record and submit writings about their everyday lives. This project was somewhat ominously dubbed ‘Mass Observation’ – a title that may cause some sense of alarm in a post-1984 world, but the idea sprang from a time with concerns not entirely unlike our own. With looming tensions in Europe and an ongoing and devastating economic depression, the 1930s were being dubbed the ‘Age of Anxiety,’ and social scientists felt that the media and politicians did not understand the ‘common man’.
Naturally, this project took off during the Second World War. Consequently, thousands of personal wartime accounts are available in archives. When writing my dissertation about the domestic lives of women in the immediate aftermath of the war, I drew on letters from my great-grandmothers and anthologised diary entries from Mass Observation. What I found within these diaries surprised me; as anonymised accounts, observers were startlingly honest, and their fears, joys, griefs, passions, community kinship, acute loneliness and even disturbing prejudices were all there, as if the writers were speaking to me directly.
A similar call-out from the Dutch government (then taking refuge in London) asked the people of the Netherlands to keep written records of life under German occupation. This inspired one young writer to approach her diary with a view to future publication. While, tragically, she did not live to see this ambition realised, Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl became perhaps the most famous diary in the world.
A dedicated diarist’s completed oeuvre can offer an honest progression of their life and evidence the evolution of their views and relationships. The writings of American diarist George Templeton Strong, for instance, show a change in his tone and attitudes after his experiences of the Civil War – something historians have found useful for understanding broader perspectives of the time.
While some historic diaries can be alarming to read (such as that of Strong’s contemporary Mary Chesnut), they provide essential, unbiased documentation of our ancestors’ world and add depth to the black-and-white facts of the secondary-school history textbook.
These diaries are perhaps famous because they are a record of a time or place that bore witness to great drama, but that is not necessarily key to a diary’s usefulness. In fact, to the amateur family historian, recorded minutiae can be just as fascinating. In the nineteenth century, ‘commonplace‘ or ‘day’ books were popular with women for recording lists of visitors or cards received (which they’d have to acknowledge or return), lines of poetry, important letters, household tips and family recipes for baked goods and herbal remedies. These entries were of immediate use to their writers and, perhaps, to the daughters and daughters-in-law to whom they were handed down. However, they are also a window into a world that you will not find in history books concerned with monarchs, prime ministers and battlefields. They also enlighten us to some forgotten joys of the past. How our ancestors spent their time and amused themselves before the advent of modern entertainment can be inspiring.
Happiness … and other benefits
Although a major incentive for many diarists, historical legacy is not the only compelling reason to keep a diary. It has been well-documented that writing a diary is beneficial for one’s mental health, and although our forebears may not have used such words, they certainly understood the remedy. When in low spirits, James Boswell, in the 1760s, wrote his diary in the second person, as if acting as his own mentor, urging himself to, “Try and be shaved and dressed by nine … Read much privately and continue firm to plan … Be frugal, calm and happy, and get wine soon.”
Nineteenth-century landowner Anne Lister’s journal served as a confidant at a time when much of her private life needed to be kept private, though it was also an outlet for her frustrations and less-flattering thoughts. Written in an elaborate cipher, Lister’s diaries (which run up to more than four million words!) have been likened to “whispered private remarks” in which she revealed her true self and wicked sense of humour. Although at times unkind, perhaps it was best that she vented her thoughts about her neighbours and associates in the privacy of a coded diary, rather than online for the world to see!
The art form has now been researched, and studies have shown that in exercising a habit of writing, diary-keepers can benefit from broken cycles of obsessive thinking and brooding, improved awareness and perception of events, reduced anxiety and improved regulation of emotions. In turn, these mental benefits can manifest in physical improvements, including lowered blood pressure and improved lung and liver function. Consequently, there is less time spent in hospital, less work absenteeism and higher student grade averages. That’s not bad for a humble diary!
An aide-mémoire
Recording your thoughts and feelings can also provide perspective in years to come. Time can dull the memory and omit the nuances, so being able to return to that time afresh and reflect on the change and growth of oneself or one’s life can be heartening. An honest record can also form the basis for other personal writing – perhaps most relevantly, a memoir.
If you are already a dedicated civilian journalist, perhaps your diary could be revisited as an aide-mémoire for telling stories in your LifeBook interviews, and if you have never practised the art but are interested in committing your life story to the page, perhaps starting a diary would be an effective way to get to know your authorial style and work out what you want to leave behind.
There are lots of ways to start a diary, but, if you’re unsure about committing to a full daily journal, beginning a commonplace book might provide a bridge, creating the habit of regular writing and introspection. This may help you ease into the interviews with a clear idea of what you wish to record in your LifeBook.
Dust off those attic boxes!
Perhaps you have a diary buried somewhere in a drawer or up in the attic – a version of yourself bound into an old moleskin just waiting to be rediscovered. Dig it out, greet that old self and be inspired by the life recorded in those pages! Then, perhaps, you can write an autobiography, recalling and reflecting on your musings and experiences and everything in between.
Call or email LifeBook Memoirs today to turn your diary into a private autobiography.
Written by Isabella Samuels, LifeBook Memoirs editor
