My Grandma's Diarys

[PinkCow]

I hope that this is the right thread to post this in....

Okay...

My Grandma has kept her diarys... one is from 1945-1949 the other is from 1950 (she did not continute it... LOL)

They are a whoot to read. I love them.

The problem is that the 1945-1949 one was written in pencil, and well its pretty hard to read now, so I'm wondering, if anyone knows if I could get them maybe re-stored, so it would be easier to read them, like where I could go, etc.

LOL

I hope I am making myself clear. :)

[PinkCow]

Gee, I can't spell.

LOL

[MorningStar]

That is so cool! I'll ask my mom. She's into doing family history and might know something about it. :)

[StrawberryFields]

I am so excited for you pinkcow. :)

My own grandmother kept journals and right after her death I asked to read them while preparing a talk for her funeral. I took notes from her journal thinking that maybe I would never see it again. I treasure her life and I am grateful she kept her life in a journal.

Good Luck in restoring her journal. My first thought was to press lead shavings into the impressions from the pencil but I would try that first on something you wrote lightly in pencil first as to not spoil her journal. Another thing that occurred to me is taking it to a copy shop and darkening the copy to see what will show up.

[NateHowe]

I would not introduce any foreign matter (like shavings) into the page. Try the copy shop approach first. If that doesn't work, go to a document restoration expert. You don't want to ruin what's left of the journal by smearing stuff on it.

[goofball]

I would scan them and then photoshop them to darken the pencil on the computer. I dont know how to preserve the original but sometimes the archive guys online can be helpful. Try googling it and see.