A daily diary of Depression-era life, told on Twitter.

Late last year, my family found a line-a-day diary maintained by my great-aunt from 1937 to 1941. She was in her early teens, living on a small farm in rural Illinois with her two brothers, one of which was my grandfather.

It's a fascinating account of life in a bygone era, a time when my family's only connections to the world were schoolhouse chatter and a neighbor's radio.

Looking at the terse journal, my sister quipped, "This is the Twitter of the 1930s." We glanced at each other and almost immediately began planning the Twitter account that would become Twitter.com/Genny_Spencer.

 I've gotten great responses since launching the daily diary feed on Jan. 1, 2009. People seem to enjoy the mixture of monotony and mystery woven through the posts.

Admittedly, most of the entries are pretty dry. That's farm life for you. But there are some real slice-of-life gems, like when my great-uncle Norman shot his first rabbit — at age 8.

There's another entry (which hasn't been posted yet) where my great-uncle won a contest at school, and his prize was a knife. Those were different times.

Oh, and to answer a few common questions I've gotten:

• My great-aunt is still alive, although she has severe dementia. She lives with a wonderful caretaker in Missouri, and my family tries to see her as often as possible. UPDATE: Genny passed away on Feb. 26, 2009.

• No, there's nothing deeply personal in the journal. It's very factual, more like a ship's log than a young girl's diary. Still, I asked my grandfather's permission before starting the Twitter feed.

• Unfortunately, the diary ends before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I'm not sure why. The last entries are from early 1941. Once war broke out, my grandfather, Kerby, enlisted as a fighter pilot and served proudly in the Pacific.

• No, I'm not the first person to think of this. There's a Twitter version of a 99-year-old's diary from 1974, though I hadn't seen it until after I started the Genny_Spencer account. There's also a blog that's posting George Orwell's diary.

•  I'm using a service called TweetLater to prepare the posts in advance. I've been quite happy with it.

Thoughts? Impressions? Questions? This is obviously an open-ended experiment, so I'm definitely curious for feedback.

Comments

[Dana]

That sounds like a wonderful tribute to a family member who will probably never be online. And the Tweets are neat. It makes me wish that one of my grandparents had done the same thing.

Incidentally, I think DeSoto is close to Carbondale, where I went to college and got my start in TV news.

[lara]

I think that is fantastic. What a great find.

[Melanie Seasons]

Caught this yesterday on Twitter. Awesome idea! I wrote a bit about it. Hope that's ok :)

http://fakeplasticnoodles.com/2009/01/29/twittering-the-great-depression-the-first-one/

[thordora]

Very cool. Following. :)

[Vargas]

Great resources! Thanks. Love the @genny_spencer

I'm gonna use the twitter later tool for some o my @artlineage tweet.

[Miss Middle of Manchester]

Excellent job - very enjoyable

[Fred Alan]

Definitely cool. Definitely following.

[Julie Argo]

I think this is AWESOME. I'm a science teacher, but showed it to the history teachers in my high school - they eat this kind of thing UP. So that's being shown in at least two classrooms every day. Thanks! :)

[Aarthi Ramamurthy]

Very cool. Following right away.

[libby]

Very cool David! Just started following @genny_spencer looking forward to reading her tweets.

[David Griner]

Thanks for all the feedback, everybody. It was unexpected but rewarding to see the account explode from 50 followers to nearly 1,000 over one weekend. Looking forward to seeing what other discussions it starts.

[Maley]

This is really neat. What do you do if the entry is over 140 characters?

[Heru Mafudi]

Thanks for sharing. Count on my follow. Sometimes there's value in the mundane...

[Stef]

That's an excellent idea - I'm sure there are hundreds of museums around the world with similar diaries or texts that they could release out into the world like this. I seem to remember someone running a '100 years ago today' blog from their great grandfather's diary - last year, perhaps?

[Paul Taylor]

nice post, gives a real feel of someones life. we are about to add a twitter integration that allows you to diary your interactions into your lifes memories and experiences. For me these memories are the most valuable thing you can pass on to future generations of your family. check out our site at http://www.arcalife.com

[Kate Foy]

What a wonderful idea. Thank you.

[claire]

This is just fantastic - Immediately following!

[Ms. Single Mama]

This is amazing.

[Barbara Uechi]

What a perfect way to share your Aunt's life. I've been blogging the diary entries of my friend Armand Singer as I have volumes of his diaries. I just wonder how many sentences he wrote under 140 characters!

[Errol Lincoln Uys]

What a wonderful way honor your great aunt!

I had a similar privilege of learning about the lives of other forgotten heroes of the Great Depression -- the boxcar kids who hopped freights and criss-crossed the country.

I've posted a selection of their stories on my website - Letters from the Boxcar Boys and Girls. http://erroluys.com/HoboLettersfromRidingtheRails.htm

These are excerpted from my book "Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression" that tells how those quarter million kids survived the hardest of times.

[Mary Dodge]

Thanks so much for doing this ... I grew up in Midwest in the '40s- '50s and this is such a nice trip back, even tho my surroundings were more urban.

Following you on Twitter.

[dan]

rather like phil gyford's website based on samuel pepys' diary

one thing that would be great is if people could join the twitter whenever they wanted rather than just when the author decides to start posting it. that way it could actually deliver incredible benefits - like our health service called sweet talk

[Cristina Cassidy]

Brilliantly creative!

[Tresha Thorsen]

Hey David...You are making me tear up and smile and squeal simulataneously. Not only have I wanted to pen a biography about someone who lived a century ago, I've wanted to do it in a way that uses social media. I've had this idea...and I kinda started it..not a diary..rather just tweeting texts of her book. This is an incredible idea. And 2ndly, my 85 yr old grandmother just asked me to help her with her memoir :) THANK YOU for heeding the nudge to do this. SO looking fwd to more. :)

[fred]

This is fascinating! Glad you are doing this. Best regards.

[Prairie Schooners]

Interesting blog. Thankful for the written word from the past. Will our descendants be able to find a record of our lives in cyberspace????

Also interesting that we share the same last name. Wondering if there is a common ancestor in our background? But, cannot connect my knowledge of my relatives with background you shared on blog.

Following you on Twitter.

[oh amanda]

So love this! I'm following you/her now!

[Valerie]

My sister the librarian is doing something similar with our grandfather's farm journals from Easton, Maine.

[Valerie]

http://riverdechutefarmer.wordpress.com/

My sister (a librarian) is doing this here with our grandfather's farm journals.

[Max "Bunny" Sparber]

I have been reading your repostings of your great aunt's diary with enormous pleasure -- it's such a fascinatingly straightforward glimpse into the past. I heard that she passed away to day, and just wanted to pass on my condolences.

[GW]

I just read your twitter about your Great-Aunt Genny's death. My condolences to your family.

Will her story continue on Twitter? I really enjoy the daily updates from her diary.

[Kathleen]

Sorry to hear of your great aunt's passing. She will live on for a long time, though, through Twitter. I am thoroughly enjoying her diary. My thoughts are with your family.

[Jonathan Briggs]

Genny died today and those of us who have been following long will miss her. Her childhood diary has been a pleasure since we discovered it. Her death is a shock.

[Samantha]

Condolences to you and your family on the loss of your Great Aunt today.

[Cory L]

I'm very sorry to hear about your great-aunt. I've been reading this blog since you started it and it's an awesome idea. I feel connected to her.

Thanks.

[Traci]

My condolences on your loss. I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you.

[Pat Casey]

I am truly saddened by the death of Genevieve Spencer of DeSoto, Missouri. Through her line-per-day diary, I was just beginning to feel like I knew Genny_Spencer when I got the word 2/26/2009 that she had passed away. My mother died last year from complications surrounding severe dementia and I am still feeling the pain. I just hope you continue with the diary entries as a tribute to Genevieve Spencer.

[pat casey]

I felt I was just getting to know Genevieve Spencer through her line-per-day diary from 1937 on Twitter.Com. Unfortunately, I learned on 2/26/2009 that Genny_Spencer of DeSoto, Missouri had passed away. I hope you continue to post her diary entries through December, 1941 as a tribute to the life and times of Genevieve Spencer. Like Genny Spencer, my mother died from complications associated with severe dementia. Jean Casey died last October, and I still miss her very much. Please accept my deepest sympathies for the passing of such a wonderful person. Please continue the diary entries on Twitter.Com.

[pat casey]

I felt I was just getting to know Genevieve Spencer through her line-per-day diary from 1937 on Twitter.Com. Unfortunately, I learned on 2/26/2009 that Genny_Spencer of DeSoto, Missouri had passed away. I hope you continue to post her diary entries through December, 1941 as a tribute to the life and times of Genevieve Spencer. Like Genny Spencer, my mother died from complications associated with severe dementia. Jean Casey died last October, and I still miss her very much. Please accept my deepest sympathies for the passing of such a wonderful person. Please continue the diary entries on Twitter.Com.

[ron jacobs]

I was born on Sept. 3, 1937 here in Honolulu. We call goose pimples "chicken skin." Which engulfed me when I twitted my way to THIS. Thinking: I musta been conceived somewhere between where
my parents lived, Hempstead, LI and New Brunswick, NJ. Nothing is weird in cyberspace. Aloha!

[DaiKiwi]

I love the randomness of the 'net: The Register IT news-site has an article which mentions Google's designer leaving. They link to his blog (Douglas Bowman's Stopdesign), which I read and then start reading the older entries, one of which linked to Genny's twitter feed and referred to this behind the scenes entry about it.
Anyway, I like the idea of what you're doing and hope it catches on a bit. Good luck & best wishes.

[Kent Beatty]

Hey David, thanks for this story and Genny's twitter account. I did a post on it at - http://kentbeatty.com/2009/03/30/retro-twitter-tweeting-through-the-great-depression/

[Angela Ossar]

This is a fantastic project. We (at the University of Texas at San Antonio) were inspired by Genny_Spencer to tell two Twitter stories of our own -- one chronicles farm life in Blanco County, Texas in the 1880s (RedfordDiaries); the other, UTSAYesterday, features press releases, news clips, and photographs from our University Archives. We're big fans of your project, and thanks so much for doing this!

[zack]

Thanks a lot for this. It is incredibly interesting and I wish that there were more resources like this. It is such a good idea, I wish more people would use this format. Thanks again, and thanks to Great-Aunt Genny!

[Jeremy Gordinier]

The Diary of Samuel Pepys is also on Twitter. http://twitter.com/samuelpepys

[Yigit Ozdamar]

Genevieve Spencer, i really love to read something about her life. It is the real life. Thanks mate! It is really great idea!

[Sarah Hoopes]

What a treat! Thanks so much for sharing this delightful and very sweet project. Best, S

[Silvia]

I just came across this post today and I'm now following the Twitter feed. It kind of reminds me of the Anne of Green Gables books and just the simplicity of life back then. Thanks for sharing your family's memories with us. :)