The Written Word
by Becky Kalajian
[The following passages are from an article based on an in-person interview with LWC volunteer Nicole Braun at her home. It was written shortly after Audrey Borenstein and Olivia Dresher formed the LWC. The article was published in the Traverse City Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Michigan, on October 14, 2004.]
Letters, journals, and diaries closeted away reveal a country’s true nature and are an untapped resource for sociologists, historians, and writers, says one local woman who is helping document where this hidden, written cache is in the community.
The Life Writing Connection, based in Seattle, WA, was launched in early 2004 as a means to help people gain access to unpublished, privately held life writing, such as diaries, letters and memoirs.
There is no cost to those who provide access to their writing, nor is there any limit to the amount of subject matter submitted. The only parameters, said Nicole Braun, a Traverse City resident and volunteer for the LWC, are that the writers are American and have written some time in the 20th century.
“Writing in any form is a healthy way to express oneself and has the added benefit of being relevant historically,” said Braun, a former sociology and women’s studies professor. “There is a need to preserve our written history in its original form.”
The idea of the LWC is simple: People who have letters, diaries, or any unpublished [life] writing simply need to submit a brief description including the general topic (i.e. “letters written in the 1970s”), a contact name, the life span of the author, a geographic location, and the form of the writing (i.e. “bound journal”).
The actual papers stay where they are but the information provided would be made available to researchers around the country, says LWC co-founder Olivia Dresher.
“The uses are wide, so we are trying to reach a wide cross-section of the country,” said Dresher.
Although the advent of e-mail and other electronic forms of communication have been partially responsible for the demise of the written letter, Dresher says that she encourages documenting e-mail exchanges as well.
“There are no boundary lines to what we are accepting. Yes, some material might be personal but that’s the point—we’re honoring the personal life…. This is an experiment and a labor of love, but we’ll do all we can to get the information out there.”
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