Australian War Memorial calls for volunteers to transcribe love letters and diaries

Nurses in a lounge writing letters to loved ones in about 1940. (Supplied: State Library of Victoria)

In 1935 Winston Churchill wrote to his wife Clementine one of the great love letters still recounted to this day.

“In your letter from Madras you wrote some words very dear to me, about my having enriched your life. I cannot tell you what pleasure this gave me, because I always feel so overwhelmingly in your debt, if there can be accounts in love … What it has been to me to live all these years in your heart and companionship no phrases can convey.”

Though text and social media messages may be commonplace today, once upon a time letter writing was the way long-distance lovers could communicate.

This Valentine’s Day, a new project from the Australian War Memorial is calling on romantics for help to transcribe love letters from the past.

If you have a love of history and a thorough comprehension of cursive handwriting, the project seeks to discern the letters from Australian ex-servicemen and women.

It is hoped it will uncover long-forgotten sweet nothings to give a glimpse into Australia’s correspondence history.

Love’s language lost

Terri-Anne Simmonds, the head of the memorial’s digital experience, is calling for anyone with a sharp eye to get involved with the project.

Ms Simmonds said reading the letters was like stepping back in time.

“It’s really a fascinating insight into our past,” she said.

“Sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to read, because sometimes this is the first time it’s ever been read closely since it was sent or received.

“The content can be varied, it can be beautiful, it can be heartening, it can be mundane gossip.”

Glimpse into the past

Among the documents including letters and diaries, released digitally today for the project, is a love letter written by an Australian soldier only hours before he died at the landing in Gallipoli.

The scrawl is elegant, the contents reverent and loving.

Ms Simmonds said with more than 6,000 pages to be transcribed it might be a project for the whole family to get involved with.

“The writing styles vary quite a lot, even the handwriting that is quite precise because it’s a lost skill, certainly with my generation, and being able to recognise that. It can be hard to read,” she said.

“That poses a challenge, so that’s why we want to tap into a wide range of audiences, so those older people at home that can interpret that, we want to encourage them to help.”

Ms Simmonds said they have broken down the total collection this Valentine’s Day into smaller batches.

“The documents are varied, the national collection is vast. We have records from different conflicts, we have diaries, letters, official documents.

“We have a whole range of letters and experiences. We also have letters from people at home to people on the battlefield.

“So, we’ve broken it down into achievable batches, or collections.”

Volunteer transcribers can register their interest in joining the project at the Australian War Memorial’s website.