Language, Censorship and Copyright

Stan and Grace were born over 100 years ago and the language and attitudes expressed in the letters reflect that they – like all of us – were people of their time.  After much consideration I decided not to ‘censor’ the letters by making changes to the occasional use of words, ideas or expressions that we would not use today.  This is history, and the essence of these letters is that they put us right there – on that day, in that place, with that person, in their thoughts.

When I first started to transcribe the letters I thought that Stan’s letters would be fascinating.  However, I soon realised that as his letters were subject to censorship there was a great deal that he could not say at the time.  Grace’s letters have the immediacy of her day to day life, although it is interesting that she does not talk much, for example, about air raids and bombing, even though Nottingham was bombed during the war.  They were both conscious of not putting into their letters anything that would help the enemy.

Of course, the copyright of these letters belongs to Stan and Grace and their heirs (that’s me, my brother and sister).  If you want to quote from the letters for your dissertation or in your book, please contact me using the contact form and I would be happy to talk to you about this.  We would not withhold permission for any reasonable use – but we would like to know first!