Personal Diaries

A small group of personal diaries kept contemporaneously by Fred Rich between July 1953 and July 1955, together with a further diary for 1965. The diaries record day-to-day activities, work, travel, correspondence, appointments and other aspects of daily life, written at or near the time of occurrence.

Five diaries covering the period July 1953 to July 1955 form a coherent sequence documenting Rich's period of National Service with the Royal Air Force. Written in a style similar to the bound diary series, they provide a detailed contemporaneous account of a period otherwise represented in that sequence only by a retrospective summary and subsequent return to civilian life. The diaries also contain occasional loose and interleaved material, including correspondence and newspaper cuttings associated with entries.

A further diary for 1965 performs a similar function but differs in format and style. Kept in a commercially produced pocket diary, entries are generally brief and shaped by the limitations of the volume's pre-printed layout.

Taken together, these diaries provide a contemporaneous record of Rich's daily life during periods only partially represented elsewhere in the diary series. The 1953–55 volumes are particularly significant as the principal day-to-day record of his National Service with the Royal Air Force.