This page provides guidance on accessing Anne Lister’s diaries and her ‘crypt hand’ code. It also provides a list of the key publications where transcribed extracts of Anne’s diaries can be found.
Anne Lister and the Shibden Hall Collection
Anne Lister’s diaries are part of the extensive collection of Lister Family of Shibden Hall records, covering 13th century to 1933, held by the West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS). The collection is fully listed on the WYAS online catalogue as Lister Family of Shibden Hall family and estate records (collection reference SH).
In 2011 Anne’s diaries were inscribed in the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register in recognition of their substantial cultural significance to the UK.
The Lister Family of Shibden Hall collection is held at the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale. If you would like to find our more about the diaries or the Shibden Hall collection please contact our Calderdale Office. Full contact details can be found here.
Using Anne’s Diaries
Since April 2019 high quality digital images of every page of Anne’s diaries (SH:7/ML/E) have been available to view on the online catalogue of the West Yorkshire Archive Service, following a joint project between WYAS and Calderdale Museums Service, with the generous support of Sally Wainwright from the Wellcome Trust Screenwriters Fellowship.
The diaries can be accessed in a number of ways. The main methods are;
- From the collection description for the Lister Family of Shibden Hall, Family and Estate Records you can browse the whole catalogue by clicking on ‘Collection’ in the ‘Level’ field of the entry.
- Every page of Anne’s diaries can be found by carrying out an Advanced Search for the covering diary reference SH:7/ML/E in the ‘Catalogue Finding Number’ field.
- If you are looking for a specific date you can carry out an Advanced Search for SH:7/ML/E in the ‘Catalogue Finding Number’ field and the year in the ‘Date’ field. The results can be sorted into date order (month/year) to find a specific date or entry.
- All pages within a specific diary can be found by identifying the appropriate diary reference from the table below and carrying out an Advanced Search for the diary reference in the ‘Catalogue Finding Number’ field. The results can be sorted into date order (month/year) to find a specific date or entry.
The diaries (in chronological order) are;
| Finding Number | Title | Date |
| SH:7/ML/E/26/1 | Loose diary pages | 1806-1814 |
| SH:7/ML/E/26/2 | Diary | Aug-Nov 1816 |
| SH:7/ML/E/26/3 | Diary | Nov 1816-Mar 1817 |
| SH:7/ML/E/1 | Diary | 21 Mar 1817-25 Jan 1818 |
| SH:7/ML/E/2 | Diary | 26 Jan 1818-10 Apr 1819 |
| SH:7/ML/E/3 | Diary | 11 Apr 1819-22 Nov 1819 |
| SH:7/ML/E/4 | Diary | 23 Nov 1819-10 Feb 1821 |
| SH:7/ML/E/5 | Diary | 11 Feb 1821-8 May 1822 |
| SH:7/ML/E/6 | Diary | 9 May 1822-25 Apr 1823 |
| SH:7/ML/E/7 | Diary | 26 Apr 1823-9 Jun 1824 |
| SH:7/ML/E/8 | Diary | 20 Jun 1824-31 Jul 1825 |
| SH:7/ML/E/9 | Diary | 1 Aug 1825-23 Oct 1826 |
| SH:7/ML/E/10 | Diary | 25 Oct 1826-29 May 1828 |
| SH:7/ML/E/11 | Diary | 30 May 1828-15 Apr 1829 |
| SH:7/ML/E/12 | Diary | 16 Apr 1829-28 Feb 1830 |
| SH:7/ML/E/13 | Diary | 1 Mar 1830-31 Dec 1830 |
| SH:7/ML/E/14 | Diary | 1 Jan 1831-31 Dec 1831 |
| SH:7/ML/E/15 | Diary | 1 Jan 1832-12 Jan 1833 |
| SH:7/ML/E/16 | Diary | 13 Jan 1833-9 Mar 1834 |
| SH:7/ML/E/17 | Diary | 10 Mar 1834-21 Mar 1835 |
| SH:7/ML/E/18 | Diary | 22 Mar 1835-29 Feb 1836 |
| SH:7/ML/E/19 | Diary | 1 Mar 1836-8 Jan 1837 |
| SH:7/ML/E/20 | Diary | 1 Jan 1837-30 Nov 1837 |
| SH:7/ML/E/21 | Diary | 1 Dec 1837-26 Aug 1838 |
| SH:7/ML/E/22 | Diary | 27 Aug 1838-20 Mar 1839 |
| SH:7/ML/E/23 | Diary | 21 Mar 1839-4 Feb 1840 |
| SH:7/ML/E/24 | Diary | 5 Feb 1840-11 Aug 1840 |
Anne’s ‘Crypt hand’ – the code
A copy of the code used by Anne in her diaries (a combination of Greek and algebraic terms) can be seen below;
Publications and Transcriptions
Some key publications on Anne Lister are;
| Angela Clare, Anne Lister of Shibden Hall. Calderdale Museums, 2018 | Introduction to Anne Lister and Shibden Hall |
| Jill Liddington, Presenting the Past: Anne Lister of Halifax 1791-1840. Pennine Pens, 1994 | Introduction to Anne’s diaries and research |
| Helena Whitbread, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (An updated version of 1988, I Know My Own Heart). Virago, 2010 | Including transcribed diary extracts 1816-1824 |
| Helena Whitbread (ed.), No Priest But Love: The Journals of Anne Lister from 1824-1826. Smith Settle, 1992 | Including transcribed diary extracts 1824-1826 |
| Jill Liddington, Nature’s Domain: Anne Lister and the Landscape of Desire. Pennine Pens, 2003 | Including transcribed diary extracts 1832 |
| Jill Liddington, Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority. Rivers Oram 1998 | Including transcribed diary extracts 1833-1836 |
| Muriel Green, Miss Lister of Shibden Hall: Selected Letters (1800 -1840). The Book Guild, 1992 | Including extracts from Anne’s letters 1800-1840 |
Further publications and articles have also been widely published.
The Lister Family of Shibden Hall collection is held at the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale. If you would like to find our more about the diaries or the Shibden Hall collection please contact our Calderdale Office. Full contact details can be found here.
Catablogue 