----- Original Message -----
From: "Ruth MacLeod" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 12:36 PM
Subject: Locked diaries
<<I've recently come across a collection of diaries, and would quite like to
get them catalogued. Sadly, the writer was a security-conscious type -
they're locked and we don't have the key...
I can't quite believe I'm asking this, but is anyone prepared to admit that
they know how to pick a lock?! Surely somewhere on the list is someone with
a sufficiently criminal mind? (I've tried with a paper clip, which has
opened one of them)
All suggestions gratefully received! (Post them to the list, we all want to
know really)>>
*******
Well, if you really want to know and you care to do a bit of Googling,
there are quite a number of websites on the Internet which will offer you
some hints. I recently tried a few of them out at home when I'd lost the key
to an old trunk which I wanted to open. Unfortunately I must have needed
further practice - or maybe my mind was insufficiently criminal on this
particular occasion. The end result was that I failed in all my attempts,
and I was finally obliged to force the trunk open, and thereafter to fit a
new lock.
What are you going to do with the diaries if and when you finally manage to
get them open? I particularly remember this problem in connection with
school log books, and I know that a few offices simply pull the locks off.
However, as has already been suggested, it's first worth trying with any
alternative keys that are to hand - even if they originally came from other
schools. What happens if you close your diaries up again, and a researcher
then requests to see them? Might you then be offering lock-picking
demonstrations as an additional service to the public in your searchroom?
A retired policeman of my acquaintance is also quite knowledgeable about
this
sort of thing. I don't suppose you have any regular searchers who might
perhaps be able to advise?
Aidan Jones,
(Barrow)
|