Since the invention of writing, man has been able to store knowledge for future generations.

Our ancestors from China, Middle East, Europe and the UK wrote down things: from to-do-lists, to contracts to edicts from those in power.

Personally, I just love old documents. Whether I can decipher the language or not, they contain the thoughts of those who came before us, and I wonder about their daily lives. And wonder if they knew the words they etched would see the test of time.

The British Library, and Microsoft, have created a small web site where old documents can be viewed using Silverlight or natively in Windows Vista: Turning the Pages 2.0

If you are using Windows Vista, just click on the "Vista Version" below, or if you have just installed Silverlight; click on the Silverlight version.

Before blogs were "invented", people kept simple diaries. For those who have not seen a diary, it is a simple written record of someone's life, usually crafted day-by-day :-). Click "View Book" and you can safely view the document. No oil from your fingers will touch the paper.

In these scanned versions of documents, The Diaries of William Searell are available for viewing. Like many bloggers today, his entries are sometimes as bland as "Fryday September 6th 1844: Cleaned the house then went to the quarry splitting Slate."

Beautifully scanned, with the feel of turning pages. Reading someone's private life from over 150 years ago. An excellent way to spend the afternoon.