The mission
To revive and preserve lost voices and to bring insight into every era through everyday working men and women, no matter how insignificant the entries seem.
Every voice, however small and whatever the subject, deserves to be preserved. These are the bits of history no one thought to save, written by people who never expected to be read.
Why I care
I’ve kept a diary of my own since 2016, and one day, long after I’ve gone, I’d appreciate someone doing the same for me: reading, redacting and preserving. I’d be happy for my own words to be preserved this way, so I try to treat every book the same, contributing to a long lost time but with privacy at the front.
What the archive keeps
Diaries are the heart of it, but private writing comes in other forms too: notebooks, journals, commonplace books, speech notes, anything a person wrote by hand for themselves rather than for print. If it lets you hear an ordinary voice from the past, it belongs here. Every item says plainly what kind of book it is.
How we choose what to publish
Owning a book isn’t the same as having the right to publish it, so every book has to pass these rules:
- Old enough, or the writer has passed: a book has to be at least 70 years old, or I have to know that its writer has passed away.
- Nobody can be identified: names, addresses, workplaces, house names and anything else that could identify someone are removed or changed, for the writer and for everyone they mention. If a passage about anyone’s health, money, crimes or love life could still be traced back to them, it is removed.
- Respect, always: no writer is presented as a joke, freak or curiosity, no matter their beliefs or views. Nothing is chosen to mock or agree with what they say. You, the reader, can form your own view. If a writer asks in the book for it to stay private or be destroyed, it isn’t published.
- Nothing harmful: any instructions that could hurt someone are taken out, and a note marks the gap.
- Taken down when asked: if you recognise an entry, email me with a real name or detail from the book that isn’t on this site, and it will be taken down as soon as I see it.
Preservation
Every book is kept twice: the physical book, stored carefully, and a digital copy of its scans, backed up. Nothing gets thrown away or sold.
Money
I enjoy this way too much to ask for money. I’ll never put ads, sponsorships or paywalls on this site, as I absolutely hate ads of all forms.
Old books cost money to buy and the site costs a little to host. One day it would be nice to break even, but honestly I’m indifferent.