{"id":104069,"date":"2025-09-02T09:45:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/?p=104069"},"modified":"2025-09-02T09:46:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:46:19","slug":"dear-diary-what-do-we-do-about-our-personal-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/dear-diary-what-do-we-do-about-our-personal-history.html","title":{"rendered":"Dear Diary: What Do We Do About Our Personal History?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega grapples with a genealogical dilemma: do we keep everything, even childhood diaries? Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As family historians we gather and store so much family history. This includes photocopies, original records, newspaper articles, photographs, and heirlooms. Family history is more than the study of those who preceded us generations ago. It\u2019s the story of our family \u2013 and that includes our<\/em> story.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, like me, you have items that tell your personal story. I have scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, photographs and diaries. I\u2019ve never been a dedicated journal writer, but I do have five books of my diary writings that start when I was 8 years old and end when I was in college.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that my later diaries have valuable family history information including vital record-type mentions, but what about the diaries from my childhood? Could information I wrote when I was 8 years old be of any use? Most importantly, is it more of an embarrassment than something of value? Should my diaries be destroyed?<\/p>\n

Yes, I said it. Should I destroy my diaries? I remember years ago talking to a gentleman who had a series of journals he wrote while on a religious mission. He told me he was going to throw them away because he did not have biological children and no one would want to read what he wrote. At the time I encouraged him not to do that. I do believe that we need to preserve and study materials \u2013 and that includes people who do not have descendants. That gentleman\u2019s story is part of a larger story, and it needs to be preserved.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: \u201cBlue Hippos\u201d diary. Credit: Gena Philibert-Ortega.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But what about my locking blue hippos one-year dairy circa 1979? Though there are some detailed entries that might be useful, the majority are one sentence updates like:<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Diary. I had another nice day at school.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or my favorite, from 4 January 1979:<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Diary, Today I hardly did anything!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now to be fair, there are mentions of family members in that diary, and I recount visiting my grandmother\u2019s home during the summer. I also found a list of family birthdays. So, it\u2019s not all brief mentions about nothing, but it largely is pretty minor stuff.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: diary entry from 26 December 1979. Credit: Gena Philibert-Ortega.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But do I keep that diary? That question continues as I look at my Hello Kitty diary I kept when I was 10-12 years old. While these entries have more text, much of it concerns boys I had crushes on. Today, reading these is more embarrassing than informative.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: \u201cHello Kitty\u201d diary. Credit: Gena Philibert-Ortega.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What\u2019s the Purpose?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you asked me if I\u2019d want to see the childhood diary of my grandmother I would reply with an enthusiastic \u201cyes!\u201d But as I look at my childhood diaries, I\u2019m more ambivalent. Their original purpose was a place to record my thoughts. I\u2019m not sure I assumed those thoughts would be read by other generations (if so, I should have written more of substance). I want my descendants to value the important pieces of our family archive. I know that the younger generation doesn\u2019t want to inherit a lot of \u201cstuff\u201d (they don\u2019t even want items I think are important or that I care about). So, I\u2019m mindful of what they may want versus what will be thrown away. With that in mind, what do I do? What do you do if you are faced with the same decision?<\/p>\n

Some choices might be:<\/p>\n