There’s been a long hiatus from my writing for the National Diary Archive. I’ve been struggling to make my used and rare book store a success, and now it seems we’ve been pushed out of our beautiful store by a national pizza franchise. I am in the process of moving 15,000 plus books into storage…until I sell the books or find a new location.
Here is something that came to my attention recently. Please consider participating in this project:
“What were you doing on December 28, 1986? Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten wants to hear from you. His next book, “One Day,” will explore an ordinary day in the history of the United States, chosen at random by drawing numbers from a hat. That’s the date he got; it was the Sunday between Christmas and New Years.
Weingarten has collected plenty of items large and small that made national or local news that day, but he would also love to hear what was important in your life at that time. What did you write in your diary? Your scrapbook? What photos have you held onto? He is looking for things that are poignant or revealing or even things seemingly banal or mundane that might later have proved significant to your life, or predictive of things that might follow. If any memories surface that you’d like to share, please pass them along to gene.weingarten@washpost.com. Make the subject line “Dec. 28.” All emails will be treated confidentially, and he will respond to each. By writing to him, you are not offering your experience for publication; anything he uses will be with your permission only.”
Weingarten has collected plenty of items large and small that made national or local news that day, but he would also love to hear what was important in your life at that time. What did you write in your diary? Your scrapbook? What photos have you held onto? He is looking for things that are poignant or revealing or even things seemingly banal or mundane that might later have proved significant to your life, or predictive of things that might follow. If any memories surface that you’d like to share, please pass them along to gene.weingarten@washpost.com. Make the subject line “Dec. 28.” All emails will be treated confidentially, and he will respond to each. By writing to him, you are not offering your experience for publication; anything he uses will be with your permission only.”
This is similar to an idea I had for a journal writing project in Fort Collins, Colorado. Some cities do a photographic study of “a day in the life of (name of city).” Imagine if you could get hundreds of people in your city to journal about a particular day…and maybe combine that with a photo-journal of the same day. This idea is free for the taking. Some day I might suggest it in my city.
Tags: a day in the life of, journal writing project, journaling, what were you doing on?
National Diary Archive 
September 29, 2013 at 4:02 am |
Cynthiia, I am so sorry your desire to open a used and rare bookstore has been thwarted by pizza.
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October 28, 2013 at 8:32 am |
Hello, I have been keeping notebooks about my life for several decades — I’ve got several boxes of them — a friend of mine suggested I try to find an archive for them, you know — the life of your average guy … and so tonight I went searching — and found you — any advice on what to do with them rather than just chuck them — I travel so much that I really have no place to keep them anymore — Thanks, Jim Hlavac
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October 28, 2013 at 11:01 am |
Jim, You would really want to give them up now? I want to get back to work right away on the archive, now that my bookstore has closed. (It may reopen yet.) I have my own diaries to “protect” as best I can until the archive is set up. Would you trust me with yours? If you didn’t want anyone reading them, that would be ok. I need to create a legal donation form where the donor’s wishes can be spelled out.
I’d love to keep them for you and preserve them. What did you write about? Would you want them “closed” for a number of years? Please do not throw them away! Let me know what you would like to do. Sincerely, Cynthia Manuel Fort Collins, Colorado 970-672-6879
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