Yes, Ruth I'm sure many of us have longed to find a way to preserve more such wriitings. Having seen so many family bibles in junk shops, I wonder of there might be a way to acquire them, and make the family events digitally available to all. A lottery application, perhaps? What do you think? Lynda Burrke, nee Chetwood On 3 August 2014 10:23, Ruth Genda via <cheshire@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Liberty's Dawn is a book researched and written recently (pub 2014) by Emma > Griffin, suggesting a fresh look at the Industrial Revolution. Griffin is > an academic (Professor of History at University of East Anglia) - but don't > let that put you off. She writes engagingly. > > > > Her premise is that 'The Industrial Revolution brought not simply misery > and > poverty [to the Common People] . it raised incomes, improved literacy, and > offered exciting opportunities for political action. For many this was a > period of new, and much valued, sexual and cultural freedom.' > > > > She attempts to show this through some 350 'autobiographies' written by > working class men and women of the period that she has found - some > published, some held in record offices up and down the UK, some at length > and some merely scraps of paper, and mostly written by self-taught writers. > > > > > Whatever you may think of it, the premise challenges. Griffin makes strong > claims based on slender evidence. But it's certainly an intriguing one and > the stories themselves are fascinating. In other words it's a good read. > > > > The fact that it stirs the brain is not such a bad thing either. There are > many of us who have inherited writings and letters of our ancestors stashed > away in cupboards, under beds, in forgotten files and scrapbooks that we > think are of no value to anyone but ourselves. Recently we have been > seeing > WW1 material on TV. There is also the occasional object which appears on > Antiques Roadshow or (even worse Flog It or e-bay) which made me think > about > a national collection in the making. But beyond that thought I personally > am stuck. I have limited computer skills, a dodgy memory and little time. > Record Offices don't always want to take material which they see as being > only of interest to an individual family but Griffin has shown that such > material can have a wider significance. > > > > Maybe this is a thought for another day - in the meantime, I recommend the > book! > > > > Griffin, Emma, Liberty's Dawn: A people's history of the Industrial > Revolution, Yale University Press, 2014 ISBN 978-0-300-20525-1 > (paperback) > > I borrowed mine from the local library. > > > > Enjoy. > > Ruth > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >