I am sitting in front of the computer ready to transcribe another of the letters from my aunt in Africa. I begin to read through the letter just to familiarise myself with her writing - to make it easier. I am swept into the countryside in what was Nyasaland as she describes her journey to the Northern province and her trip to Nkata Bay. I can almost smell the distinctive smell of the lakeshore and hear those 1950s colonial voices as she describes sailing on the lake and how "absolutely outrageous" were the things the "blokes" from the Rhodesian Royal Airforce told her to make her laugh.
I type happily and feel a pull of reluctance to come back to earth when I finish. I glance at my emails and see that several cousins have replied to my message asking for their approval for my plans for the letters. So far they all agree that putting them into the local archives is a good thing because of the social history aspect of the contents of the letters and putting the transcriptions onto the family website for all of us to have access is, apparently something that is awaited with eagerness.
Only four more to transcribe and then They can go on the website together with the photographs and I can start on the letters from Uncle in Canada - This thought brings a huge grin to my face as I save the file and start a new document.
13 comments:
That sounds like a fun- not to mention interesting- project!
Alison xx
I love the contrast between your modern day task and the sounds of those colonial voices breaking through. Lovely.
How wonderful! I wish I had a store of letters to dip into like that. And how exciting to get to be the one who preserves them for future generations. A lovely moment to capture.
What a wonderful moment, full of layers of history ... how special that you have letters to transcribe and that a time and a moment is evoked afresh by your reading and looking after it. It really brings home how valuable our journals are, and what flavours and insights they leave for generations to come. Thank-you so much for your contribution today and for linking up :).
it sounds very interesting! your family and community are ver lucky of you doing these kind of projects
cris
lalchimisteartisane.blogspot.com
Oh what a fabulous project. I put our family tree together and I loved it! This makes me want to pick it up again.
Your wonderful letters could also count for your "precious" for Storytelling Sunday!! You are so lucky to have them.
Oh that is such a treasure to have access to - I love your description of your moment and can feel your pleasure in working on it. Thank you so much J x
Oh this is wonderful! I love the thought of preserving your aunt's writings in a way that also shares them with the rest of the family. And the photo you included is just lovely!
I love how you have conveyed your aunt's letter and moment into your own moment - that's clever and extremely interesting!
Oh I like this - the plan for the letters, the transcribing and the being pulled back from the past. One of the client jobs I'm doing is transcribing from handwritten journals/letters/narrative. Fascinating stuff and unlike most copy typing I don't want to listen to something as it is just too interesting!
Wow, this sounds absolutely wonderful! What a wonderful way to share the letters with your family - love the photo too :D
What a lovely picture!
And a fantastic project you have planned.
Rinda
p.s. Sorry its' taken me a while to get round and comment; I've been a bit under the weather.
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