When Mama received your letter I was sure there would be a note for me. You see, I have been intending to write to you so many times that gradually I began to believe that I really had written to you, and so I have been calmly waiting for an answer and only now realize that the letter is still in my head. Do forgive me, I beg you.
— Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
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Do the excerpts from letters by literary authors ("Missives Matter", page 6) whet your appetite for more? Check out collections of the letters of Rimbaud, Lowell, Clampitt, Conrad, Stevenson, Fitzgerald, Agee, and Feynman at Powell's, or go to the Gutenberg Project for free reading and downloading of letter books by Stevenson (Volume I and Volume II of Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson and Vailima Letters). |
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If the writing of the common person is what caught your eye from this article, three of Andrew Carroll's collections of letters from war are in print: Behind the Lines, the one featured in the article; War Letters; and Operation Homecoming, in which a National Endowment for the Arts program sent published authors to the war zones to encourage ordinary people to write letters, journals, and stories of their experiences. |
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Carroll's Legacy Project has a web site, whose sections include War Letters on Display, with links to several collections, and tips on How to Preserve Your Letters. | |
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Naomi Baron looks at the way a surprising variety of factors – including religious beliefs, the law, nationalism, and economics – shape the way society reads, writes, and communicates, in From Alphabet to Email. |
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The text of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail", as well as audio files of Dr. King reading the letter, are available at the web site of The King Center, established by Coretta Scott King in 1968. |
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| The Art of Letters |
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Liza Kirwan, curator of manuscripts at the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art, wrote a companion book to the exhibit "More Than Words: Illustrated Letters from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art" (page 10). |
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As we went to press, the exhibit was scheduled for 6 of the possible 10 venues of its national tour. To see the current list as well as more information and examples of the exhibits, go to the exhibit's web site. If you're interested in attending the exhibit on tour, check out the web sites of the museums: Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge, MA); Georgia Museum of Art (Athens, GA); Walton Arts Center (Fayetteville, AR); Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art (Manhattan, KS); Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum (Wausau, WI); Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum (Lafayette, LA). If the other 4 open times are filled in, we'll add links here and report in our blog. [April 2007 – the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, CA has been added.] | |
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Did the Michigan Music School end up looking like Eero Saarinen's sketch in his letter? Two pages of views of the building don't show any evidence of the dome shape so prominent in the sketch. |
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| Abraham Lincoln in The World of Letters |
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A more detailed description of the affair mentioned in the letter on page 19 (which, given the date it was written, was originally assumed by the Brownings to be a joke) can be found in Honor's Voice by Douglas L. Wilson. |
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The Library of Congress' American Memory site contains a brief description and a picture of a letter Lincoln wrote in 1837 to the large woman in question, Mary Owens. |
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Many editions of the letters of Abraham Lincoln have been published. Project Gutenberg also has three: Lincoln Letters, Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters, and Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865, the book the examples of Lincoln's handwriting on pages 19 and 20 are taken from. |
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If you're more interested in letters to Lincoln, check out Dear Mr. Lincoln: Letters to the President. These letters from ordinary citizens are arranged topically and the introduction explains how the large volume of letters was handled and sorted. |
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Letters from the North Pole | |
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Here's a list of the Holiday Cities (page 21) that were participating in the re-mailing program as of 2005. There doesn't seem to be any information as to whether the consolidation of the postmarking process into a smaller number of regional centers will affect this program or not. In the past a press release has been issued approximately the first of December; check the USPS site (search for "holiday") to see. We'll also post information on our blog as soon as we know anything. |
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Victorian Post Box | |
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You can see the Victorian post box on page 25 in full color (restored to what's thought to be its authentic original appearance), along with a closeup of the descriptive plaque explaining its history, at this site. |
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Writing Letters with Pen and Ink | |
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This gift book by Edward St. Paige (page 29) is currently out of stock, but check Powell's for availability. |
Powell's Books |
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| Clicking on most of the books on this page will take you to Powell's, the world's largest independent bookstore. You can also use the search engine to the left. Any purchase you make by following one of these links will help support LEX – not just these items but any book or DVD in their inventory. | |
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Copyright 2006