MetaFilter posts tagged with letters and history

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Hargrimm — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:13:51 -0800

"Promoting the Love and Study of American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History has many resources on its website, including over 50 free lecture podcasts, a collection of war letters throughout history, a Lincoln bicentennial page, and a new John Brown exhibition. There are also subject pages for 8 'eras' of American History, under "History by Era" on the top menubar, as well as extensive materials for teachers of history (maps, primary sources, quizzes, links).

A collection of personal letters

Kattullus — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:29:44 -0800

The Letter Repository contains hundreds of personal letters from the early 18th Century through the Second World War. A large portion of the letters are from periods of conflict, the largest chunk being from World War Two, though there are also sizable numbers from the First World War and the American Civil War. There are also quite a few love letters. You can both see scans of the letters (and photographs or other materials) as well as transcriptions, which you can edit should you spot errors. One of my favorite collection of correspondance is the one between a Herbert Beyer, who served in the Air Force in World War Two, his darling Cleo and his parents.

Field Force to Lhasa

Abiezer — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:36:41 -0800

Field Force to Lhasa 1903-04 Captain Cecil Mainprise accompanied General Sir Francis Younghusband's expedition to Tibet in 1903. He wrote 50 letters home which trace the expedition’s progress into Tibet. Read this insider's account on the day they were written some 105 years later. Final post is 18 November 2009. [Via]

In the First Person -- an index to letters, diaries, oral histories and personal narratives

cog_nate — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:01:54 -0800

In the First Person "is a free, high quality, professionally published, in-depth index of close to 4,000 collections of personal narratives in English from around the world. It lets you keyword search more than 700,000 pages of full-text by more than 18,000 individuals from all walks of life. It also contains pointers to some 4,300 audio and video files and 30,000 bibliographic records." (Description from website.) You can also browse by repository, collection, subject and several other ways.

"... there is no appeal but mutual love and trust."

amyms — Mon, 26 May 2008 20:01:19 -0800

RelationshipFilter, 1873. An online archive of letters from a wife to her husband, which include an intimate look at their relationship crisis. Emma Spaulding Bryant wrote these ten letters to her husband, John Emory Bryant, in the summer of 1873... The letters describe Emma's visits to a doctor in Cleveland for "uterine difficulties" that had been ailing her for some time. Although we do not have her husband's letters to her from this period, it appears that he accused her of adultery with the doctor and berated her for not being obedient to him. Many of Emma's letters from this period have markings in red pencil, presumably made by John to highlight the sections of her letters that he found suspicious. Emma's responses to John's accusations are indignant, and she rebuts each of his points eloquently and emphatically. Because these letters are unusually frank for this time period, they reveal much about the relationships between husbands and wives in this era, and shed light on medical practices that were often kept private.

Physics milestones of the past 50 years

Wolfdog — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:28:29 -0800

Physical Review Letters' 50th anniversary retrospective promises to be an interesting survey of the physics landscape for the past half-century.

"A single person can profoundly touch the lives of so many people."

amyms — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 01:03:41 -0800

"Dear Miss Breed..." the letters begin. Clara Estelle Breed was the children's librarian at the San Diego Public Library from 1929 to 1945. When her young Japanese American patrons and their families were forced into relocation camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942, Miss Breed became their penpal and their lifeline, sending them books and supplies, assisting with various requests, and "serving as a reminder of the possibility for decency and justice in a troubled world." Fifty years later, Miss Breed passed on her collection of letters to Elizabeth Kikuchi Yamada, one of her original correspondents. Ms. Yamada donated them to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. The online collection includes digital facsimiles [example] of the correspondence, full transcriptions [example] of the letters, and brief biographies [example] of most of the correspondents. The site also includes home movies and oral histories.

"I have a great Deal of Leisure, which I chiefly employ in Scribbling, that my Mind may not stand still or run back like my Fortune."

amyms — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:25:39 -0800

"John Adams and Abigail Smith Adams exchanged over 1,100 letters, beginning during their courtship in 1762 and continuing throughout John's political career. These warm and informative letters include John's descriptions of the Continental Congress and his impressions of Europe while he served in various diplomatic roles, as well as Abigail's updates about their family, farm, and news of the Revolution's impact on the Boston area." The Adams Electronic Archive has transcripts [example] as well as high-resolution scans [example] of the letters. You may be familiar with some snippets of their correspondence from the movie musical "1776" ("Til Then" and "Yours, Yours, Yours" scenes on YouTube).

The Darwin Correspondence Project

carter — Wed, 16 May 2007 08:39:17 -0800

Darwin wrote to 2000 people during his life; 14,500 of these letters still survive. The Darwin Correspondence Project is putting annotated transcriptions of these online, and they've covered about 5,000 so far, including a letter written when he was 12 after he had got into trouble with his sister for not washing regularly while at school. There's an intro here. See also Darwin Online, discussed here. And the prolific network theorist Albert-Laszlo Barabasi has co-authored a paper on statistical similarities between Darwin's and Einstein's correspondence (#51 on the list).

Zvukovye Pis'ma

monju_bosatsu — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 11:34:44 -0800

Zvukovye Pis'ma: Musical letters from the Soviet Union during the 1950s, with images and audio. More information for those that can decipher it.

Letters from the past

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 27 Aug 2003 12:34:03 -0800

Past Voices serves up a collection of old letters, postcards, diaries and memoirs. Some are matter-of-fact: "While I am thus writing, I will tell you of an instance which happened 3 or 4 days ago. Two men were shot to death for desertion.", while some chronicle amazing historical events: "I heard two of the Germans shouting ' don't shoot we are bringing you some cake.' They were told to go back, but they would not, they came right up to our trenches."

Olive and Eric.

plep — Mon, 03 Mar 2003 12:11:55 -0800

Olive and Eric. A young couple exchange letters during wartime.

taz — Thu, 31 Oct 2002 07:02:25 -0800

"You will have heard, Dr Sir I doubt not long before this can have reached you that Sir W. Howe is gone from hence. The Rebels imagine that he is gone to the Eastward. By this time however he has filled Chesapeak bay with surprize and terror." - Sir Henry Clinton

Spy Letters of the American Revolution is an excellent site offering such gems as a captured letter written from Rachel Revere to husband Paul, a message from a colonial scientist written in invisible ink, and Benedict Arnold's encrypted message to the British offering to surrender West Point for £20,000. The site includes photos of the documents, back-stories on each letter, profiles of the people involved, and descriptions of methodology, as well as a timeline and route map.

riley370 — Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:18:42 -0800

letter from a freedman to his old master jourdan anderson's letter offers a compelling view of one man's view of freedom. page 2, page 3