Diaries and accounts books, letters and other things

[Sue]

I have spent a few days sorting through boxes and suitcases that belonged to Mum and Dad, and my grandma and great aunt. I knew it was going to be a long job and an emotional one but today I reduced the bulk to a level that can now be stored in our loft.I still have photos to sort and divide up amongst my siblings and cousins and some to be identified and labelled, but my most interesting finds are the diaries of my grandma 1933-1980 inclusive and complete.

I have household account books dating back from 1928 to the end of the war, including one specifically on running a car.

Also there are letters dating back to the early 1920s and even earlier. Letters from sons to mothers, fathers to daughters, sisters to sisters, wives to husbands and vie versa .I have boxed up the letters and artefacts from 3brave men. One died in WW1 just one month after he married my great aunt. She never remarried.

Another was my dads brother who died in an airfield accident at only 20years of age. I have letters of his from being a child to his death, and I can follow life events in the diaries, including the family despair when he died.

The third person was my Mums first fiancé who died not 6 months after his engagement to Mum. I have his and her letters plus photos of his grave which Mum and Dad visited in the 1990s. I also have mums and dads letters to each other, and the bus ticket for the bus upon which Dad proposed. How do I throw away such important parts of my parents and grandparents lives. Easy, I won't.

I have letters written after the blitz in Sheffield, one from grandma who would not shelter as she worried about her sons, one from Dad saying what happened to him on duty in the RAF.

One day I hope to piece it all together and perhaps write another book. For the time being I shall wait, my emotions are raw, but the task is completed .

This is what I have but you should see what I have thrown away!

[Stanley]

Your choices sound good Sue. They are the ephemera which mean very little on there own but when kept together start to give a picture of a life. The whole of the LTP was such material, but oral instead of in documents.

[Wendyf]

What a task Sue, and well done for being able to throw some stuff away!

[Sue]

I was tempted to keep old bank books, insurance documents, house sale info, but I had to be strong and throw. Now we will tackle the same job with our own stuff(well sometime!)

[Stanley]

I have done my best to ease the problem for my children when I die. I keep thinking that one great service I could do for local history in Barlick would be to digitise my index cards. But in what format?