Robert Shields (diarist)

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Rev Robert Shields (born May 17, 1918 - died October 15, 2007)[1] was a former Minister and high school English teacher who lived in Dayton, Washington,[2] USA, who, after his death, left behind a diary of 37.5 million words[3] chronicling every 5 minutes of his life from 1972 until a stroke disabled him in 1997. Shields's diary was longer than those kept by the journalist Edward Robb Ellis (21 million words), the poet Arthur Crew Inman (17 million words), and perhaps the most famous diarist of all, Samuel Pepys (1.25 million words).[1]

Believing that discontinuing his diary would be like "turning off my life",[2] he spent four hours a day in the office on his back porch, in his underwear, recording his body temperature, blood pressure, medications, describing his urination, and slept for only two hours at a time so he could describe his dreams.[4] It is believed that Shields suffered from hypergraphia. He once said "Maybe by looking into someone's life at that depth, every minute of every day, they will find out something about all people."[4] He also left behind samples of his nose hair for future study.[1]

Shields's self-described "uninhibited", "spontaneous" work was astonishing in its mundaneness, and now fills 94 cartons[5] in the collections of Washington State University, to whom he donated the work in 1999.[4] In a May 2000 interview he said "I've written 1200 poems and at least five of 'em are good."[3]. He also claimed to have written the story base for Elvis Presley's film Love Me Tender based on the Reno Gang of Seymour, Indiana where Robert William Shields was born. Copies of the manuscript are at the Kansas State Historical Society, E P Lamborn collection. Shields based his manuscript on John Reno's 1879 autobiography.

[edit] Excerpts

Under the terms of the donation of his diary to Washington State University, the diary may not be read or subjected to an exact word count for 50 years from his death.[6] However, many excerpts have appeared, including the following:[7]

July 25, 1993 
7 am: I cleaned out the tub and scraped my feet with my fingernails to remove layers of dead skin.
7.05 am: Passed a large, firm stool, and a pint of urine. Used five sheets of paper.
April 18, 1994 
6:30-6:35: I put in the oven two Stouffer's macaroni and cheese at 350°.
6:35-6:50: I was at the keyboard of the IBM Wheelwriter making entries for the diary.
6.50-7.30: I ate the Stouffer's macaroni and cheese and Cornelia ate the other one. Grace decided she didn't want one.
7.30-7.35: We changed the light over the back stoop since the bulb had burnt out.
August 13, 1995 
8.45 am: I shaved twice with the Gillette Sensor blade [and] shaved my neck behind both ears, and crossways of my cheeks, too.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Martin, Douglas (2007-10-29). Robert Shields, Wordy Diarist, Dies at 89. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
  2. ^ a b Isay, David (1994-01-27). Robert Shields, World's Longest Diary. NPR. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
  3. ^ a b Feldman, Michael (2000-05-06). Michael Interviewed... Robert Shields Diarist and former Reverend. NotMuch.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
  4. ^ a b c Discovered: The world's longest diary - all 3.75 million words of it. Daily Mail (2007-10-30). Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
  5. ^ Manuscript Accession List. Washington State University (updated August 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
  6. ^ Martin, Douglas (2007-10-30). Robert W. Shields, 89, a preacher who kept a 37.5 million-word diary. Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
  7. ^ Samways, Ana (2007-11-20). Sideswipe. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
Persondata
NAME Shields, Robert William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Diarist
DATE OF BIRTH May 17, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Seymour, Indiana
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 2007
PLACE OF DEATH Dayton, Washington