Post 17, Recording history

I remember being at work one morning, before the library opened, shelving with my colleagues. One of them idly mentioned that there used to be a diary that belonged to her grandmother, a scrapbook of sorts, that had photos, memorabilia, shopping lists, day to day happenings and events and it had been thrown away by her (I think) father. Amidst the synchronous gasp of horror, I just stared. I couldn't believe that someone threw away something with so much social history. When the shock had subsided, my colleague said 'only a roomful of librarians would understand the significance of what happened'.

I don't think that is completely true, I am sure others would have appreciated that glimpse into time, the intricate patchwork that made up life back then, however I do think it is true that librarians take a leadership role in preserving social history.

For me, I take a leadership role in preserving my family's social history. I love looking back on old ephemera and memorabilia that my dad has and want to be able to take snapshots of moments of time in my family's life. I started in December last year by doing Ali Edwards' December Daily album idea which I blogged about here. This year, in July, I will be doing the Week in the Life project which is a photographic and textual documentary of my family's life from July 25 to 31. The aim is to have this project give a representation of my family's life at this particular point in time. I plan to keep shopping receipts, tickets, school memorabilia, anything really that will reflect my family's life at this time. And I'll have fun doing it.