We were recently gifted the diaries of the niece of an existing diarist in the archive. The spirit lives on! Both diarists are fascinating and ground-breaking women. Frances Muriel Hazelton is the niece of diarist, Irene Griffiths. Frances' diaries are primarily exercise books of different colours and size. The diaries cover the diarist's adolescence and her 19th and 20th years, in which the diarist worked at the BBC as a 'female newsroom attendant' and her entry in to St Hugh's College in Oxford in the 60s, no mean feat for a woman in male preserve..... The diarist writes infrequently and [...]

The Great Diary Project has, this month, spoken three times at libraries in London: Brent Library, Kensington and Chelsea Central Library and finally, Richmond Library. The highlight of the events was the attendees; they asked insightful questions which really promoted discussion and ideas. Thank you. http://cityread.london/events/

Diaries often have printed material at the front (and sometimes back, or between pages). Including recipes, household tips, lunar and solar movements, international dialling codes... this material is dubbed a 'paratext'. Paratexts = information Information = knowledge Knowledge (can be seen to) = a way of knowing the world Knowing the world, describing the world (can be viewed as) = a form of control over it. Diarists write about their lives. The narrative structure diarists give to their lives in the pages of their diaries provides some a sense of structure, even, perhaps, a sense of reality and control in [...]

These are the privately kept, and now public, diaries of a teenage girl, now a mother and Doctor.

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For the next few weeks we will be exploring - diaries and their uses. People use their diaries for all kinds of reasons. Here are some common uses: A place to keep a dated record... Places to keep account – of lovers, as well as money… They are also known as a place to write down appointments, a place to store memories and as therapy or secular and silent confession or secrets… Some diarists use them as a creative outlet... Well-documented examples of writers using their diaries as writerly gymnasiums: include Somerset Maugham, Virginia Woolfe, and Katherine Mansfield or the [...]

Our spotlight romantic Mr ? writes of himself the following: Me. 5 [foot] 6 [inches] 11-12 stone Non-smoker Music lover Car [and] house owner Moderate drinker Retired Good health. Crosswords Reading Cinema Pub lunches Country walks Tactile Aromatherapy Solvent Keeping fit History Auburn/gray Bifocals Stocky Prefers casual wear Leather shoes.’