Old diaries: To burn or not to burn

DEAR READERS: A recent letter in this column from a diarist calling herself "Not Anne Frank" raised the question of whether to keep old journals. The writer was pondering the future of her diaries; she was leaning toward destroying them. Scores of readers responded with their views and with stories of diaries lost, found and destroyed.

Here are a few of the letters:

DEAR AMY: My great-grandmother kept a journal covering her life in the mid- to late 19th century. I was utterly bowled over to come across a passage that began, "We have just learned that a madman has shot Mr. Lincoln." As events back then unfolded over the next few weeks, she recorded them. It was like being transported back in time and quite an emotional experience. Had she destroyed her journals, I and the rest of her many descendants would never have "come to know her" so well. Thanks to her, I've been keeping a journal for 40 years.

--Diarist

DEAR AMY: I kept diaries from eighth grade until I got married. They're so funny to read now. I marvel that I did so well in high school and college, because reading the diaries gives a picture of someone who thought about boys all the time while not actually having many dates. When I was asked to give a little talk at my 50th high school reunion, luckily I had those diaries to refer to. I figure if my sons read these diaries after I'm dead, what the heck! All they'll learn is that I was human.

--Ann

DEAR AMY: I'm leaning toward burning diaries. I came across this quote from William Soutar: "A diary is an assassin's cloak which we wear when we stab a comrade in the back with a pen." Not a bad criterion when deciding whether posterity needs documentation of your every passing thought!

--Janet