Diary Discoveries Sally Ivey and Jeff Richards

Two classic pin-up calendar pages with a hand written message on them are what Sally started with for this story. In this episode, we discuss a bit of pin-up art history and then get into the writing on the pages. Five sailors on the U.S.S. Mission Bay signed this "last will" and we'll tell you what we found out about these men. As most WW II Veterans have passed away, and Memorial Day was just weeks ago, we felt this was a form of remembrance --with a bit of a twist.Music in this episode:&nb...

In this episode we read and discuss the letters between Charles and Dorothy as they start their life together in 1920 -1921. He has recently been divorced in the very public "Girl In Every Town" divorce case and Dorothy, 21 years his junior, is challenged early on by his absence and her new domestic situation. 100 letters were written between them in the course of a year. In this collection, 5 of the letters were unopened. More than half are on hotel stationary so we can tra...

An antique tin containing 100 letters along with a 1919 newspaper article was the starting point for this episode. The article titled "Girl In Every Town" described a divorce case in which 17 letters from various women the husband allegedly had relationships with, were introduced as evidence. As Sally dug deeper, and as usually is the case, the story was so much more! We take you back to the 1840's, Nashville, Tennessee, to discover how it all began.Send us a Text Message.Please g...

In 1903, Mary Louise Edgar traveled from her home in Wisconsin to visit Scotland. She wrote very detailed and descriptive entries in over 200 pages of her diary. In this episode we share some of Sally's research methods to take you through the process of discovery for this diary given to her while in Oregon. The diary was written by an unknown author (no name in the diary), and has a tragic connection to a young man who went on to become one of America's most well known architects. Bagpi...

Union soldier Gillis J. McBane is captured and taken prisoner during the brutally fought battle at Stones River in Tennessee.We will take you to the battlefield and follow his ordeal as he is moved to the notorious Castle Thunder confederate prison in Richmond, Virginia.Forced marches, sleepless nights, starvation, rail car trips in livestock cars, cold weather with little clothing, and all of which occurs before reaching the hell hole of Castle Thunder.Gillis maintained a diary and wrote it ...

In this episode we present some of our listeners and their responses to our invitation to share how and why they journal. We learned some fascinating things and were sincerely moved by what these individuals shared with us.Artworks and music, conversations with God, giving women who had no voice a place in history, connections to and honoring those who lived before us, and sharing stories of resiliance to offer hope to others; you will hear it in this episode. Thank You from the bo...