Letter in the Attic
Wanted: letters, diaries, memoirs and other documents connected with Brighton and Hove
About the project
By Jack Latimer
Got any letters or diaries in your attic? My Brighton and Hove and QueenSpark are working on an exciting new project to create an archive of personal unpublished papers shared by the residents of Brighton and Hove. The project is called Letter in the Attic and it aims to show the historical value of everyday writings, such as letters and diaries.
We've now widened the project to include memoirs and everyday personal papers such as school reports and household bills.
A book and exhibition in the making
At the end of Letter in the Attic, QueenSpark will publish a book about the material we collect. The book might contain extracts from many different letters or diaries, or it might be about one particular diarist or letter-writer. We'll also create an online exhibition of the documents on the My Brighton and Hove website.
A safe home for precious documents
One of the aims of the project is to make sure that old letters and diaries are kept safe - it's tragic how many end up in a skip! Contributors to the project will be given professional advice on how to look after their papers at home, and provided with archival quality materials to keep them in. Alternatively, contributions to Letter in the Attic can be deposited safely with the East Sussex Record Office and looked after for future generations. This doesn't mean that you lose ownership of the documents. Papers can be loaned to the archive rather than donated, and the original owner or other family members can retrieve the papers if they wish. The main point is to make sure that precious documents are kept safe.
What are we looking for?
The documents could be old or new: they could date back to the 1800s or have been written over the last few years.
They need to have some connection with Brighton and Hove, but the subject-matter doesn't need to concern the city. For example, war letters from a soldier to his wife in Brighton would be included.
We're not looking for memoirs or creative writing. Nor are we looking for anything that is already published, such as newspaper clippings.
We would be interested in postcards and photos if there is a lot of writing on the back of the postcards, or the photos are accompanied by a piece of writing.
How can you help? Please fill in our questionnaire.
If you have any personal papers yourself - or know someone else who might - please complete our online questionnaire. If you know someone else who might have documents, you can download a Word copy of the questionnaire at the foot of this page.
Letter in the Attic is a joint project between QueenSpark, My Brighton and Hove, East Sussex Record Office and the Mass-Observation Archive. It is an A2A project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Documents to download
This page was added on 27/02/2007.