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[JoanMiller]

Hi all,
I need your advice.
I've recently been entrusted with my Grandpa IRVINE's diaries...sixty years of diaries! 
Grandpa immigrated from Ireland and homesteaded in Saskatchewan when he was a young guy.  There are entries that range from weather to politics and every topic in between. 

My question to you. If I was to put up a blog about his diaries what would YOU, as a genealogist and family historian be interested in? 
Would it be his comments or stories around major world events? 
Would it be stories of every day life on the prairies homesteading?
Would it be stories such as the one I wrote about my Grandmother, The Mail Order Bride http://www.luxegen.ca/?p=783.  I found good tidbits in Grandpa's diary for that story!
Would you want to see daily entries, verbatim from the dairy? (my uncle has transcribed approximately 1/3 of the entries).
Or all of the above?
Will people outside of our family even be interested in the contents of these diaries? 

I'm debating whether I add a section to my already established blog or have Grandpa Irvine's Diaries as a stand alone entity.  Any thoughts on that?

I want to share this info with our family and fellow genealogists and historians if they are interested.  BUT, and this is a big BUT....I'm thinking I don't have time to recount or transcribe 60 years!  Your comments will help me focus on what might be the most interesting place to start.

Thanks!
Joan Miller
Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
http://www.luxegen.ca

[MMH]

Joan,

60 Years!   I'm transcribing my husband's diaries but luckily he made short notes and certainly in better handwriting than your grandfather!   However he also  wrote a biography, in pencil, double spaced and only I can read it - the children just can't even get started!   I'm just putting it into Word by chapters and will leave it in that form or as a pdf file.

As to a blog - I suppose it would be interesting for historical research in Sask so in any other form it could be sent to historical places there, but for the family a blog might be OK.   I don't think of blogs as being permanent.   I know of people who never backed theirs up and lost everything when the host site folded.   You want to make sure all that work stays safe.   Everything is sort of important, but if you could just highlight the more important events that would shorten things a lot.   

Let us know what you wind up deciding to do.   It sounds like a life time project to me!   Good luck,
Mary

[jgr]

If I was to put up a blog about his diaries what would YOU, as a genealogist and family historian be interested in? 
Would it be his comments or stories around major world events? 
Would it be stories of every day life on the prairies homesteading?
Would it be stories such as the one I wrote about my Grandmother, The Mail Order Bride http://www.luxegen.ca/?p=783.  I found good tidbits in Grandpa's diary for that story!
Would you want to see daily entries, verbatim from the dairy? (my uncle has transcribed approximately 1/3 of the entries).
Or all of the above?

DEFINITELY all of the above. And I like your idea of a separate blog, but you could always post links to anything new on the diaries blog on your own blog.

[JoanMiller]

Thanks for the replies!  I appreciate the feedback.

A print publication would definitely be nice.  I believe it would have to be a collection of stories, which could start with a blog.

The reason I like the blog idea is the fact more people will see the material and secondly I've found my blog articles lead to opportunities for print articles (for example in my local Histories Society newsletter).  That may be one way I will eventually publish parts of Grandpa's story.

That said, a blog will last only as long as I have the energy to do it   Then perhaps I could publish the contents in a print format...

Thanks again for your feedback.  Much appreciated.

Cheers,
Joan Miller
http://www.luxegen.ca
P.S. I do backups of backups on and offsite so I'm not worried about losing the content of the blog.  I can quickly recreate (and have done) if the web hoster disappears.

[Betty]

Joan,

I'm enjoy reading diaries.  I've read several and enjoyed them all.  I like to see what life was like for individuals in various places.  If the diarist lived in a place where I had kin, I can usually find things in the diary that pertained to my folks, even if their names were never mentioned.  How crops were faring, what kind of weather was happening, political events, births and deaths - all sorts of events that would have affected the lives of all people in that neighborhood have interest for my own research. 

So - put in everything!

Betty

[bobby]

Bit of jealousy i have no doubt. Wish i had such a diary.

Look after them, and best to also make backup copies of the original pages as well.

[jgr]

Bit of jealousy i have no doubt. Wish i had such a diary.

Isn't that the truth for the vast majority of us! Why couldn't MY ancestors have been literate packrats...!

[JoanMiller]

I think we just got lucky on that side of the family.  Grandpa did his diaries and Grandma was a family historian.  She wrote stories down.  When I was researching material for an article about her for the Women Pioneers of Saskatchewan book, the info was all there.  I just had to condense and edit and confirm with my uncle, mom and aunt that my editing was okay.  This side of the family also liked and still likes to take copious amounts of pictures (and they write dates and names on the back of them - imagine that!).

Now, if my KERR family had only been as diligent about recording things!

Cheers,
Joan
Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
http://www.luxegen.ca

[jgr]

This side of the family also liked and still likes to take copious amounts of pictures (and they write dates and names on the back of them - imagine that!).

Now that's just plain no fair. Diarists AND captioners??? No fair!!!

[bobby]

Now that's just plain no fair. Diarists AND captioners??? No fair!!!

lol