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Journaling - The Write Stuff For You?
Just Want to Talk | Last Active: May 19 12:06pm | Replies (391)Comment receiving replies
Have any of you long-time journalers made plans for what to do with your journals when … when … well, when the time comes? I've been journaling longhand for almost a half-century and now have a room-long bookshelf filled with my journals. They have served me beautifully, one day at a time, over all these years, but I'm not comfortable with just leaving them 'behind' to read by … by whom? I've no blood kin, so, in effect, I represent the end of my family's line. Are any of you similarly perplexed? –Ray (@ray666)
Replies to "Have any of you long-time journalers made plans for what to do with your journals when..."
It is worth talking to the archival librarian or staff if you have a state library or local university that might be interested. Do your journals cover political and historical events or are they purely personal? Are there letters or papers of interest that go along with them? No way to know if there is interest but worth asking. Lots of state libraries and archives have journals of ordinary folks that are of use to historians. The University of the state I live in collects certain material--literary history, counterculture accounts, land use and farming, etc. But if you don't want to share, Ginger's suggestion is a good one.
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@ray666 Do you have a trusted friend, or the named executor for your estate? Direct them to destroy the journals by shredding or a bonfire. If there is any historical significance, consider donating them to a learning institution.
My father kept journals from high school and going forward. He was on the USS Enterprise at Pearly Harbor. I had asked him to gift me his journals when he passed. But sad to say, I have no idea what happened to them.
Ginger