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Links related to Issue 7, Summer 2005     

Bring Warm Clothes, a look at Minnesota's history as told through the letters, diaries and photographs of people who lived it. Discover what Minnesota was like for her people – explorers, farmers, homemakers, socialites, children, laborers, lawyers and lumberjacks.
In Issue 7, LEX prints the second of 3 excerpts from 3 books in the Self-Made series (page 8). The series actually includes 4 books: the one LEX didn't use is Old Gorgon Graham, More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, written by George Horace Lorimer, first published in 1903, and published online in 2004 by Project Gutenberg.
 
Charles Colson was chief counsel to Richard Nixon during the Watergate affair. After his release from prison, Colson founded Prison Fellowship (see page 13). The Open Source Project lists several dozen other organizations involved in writing to prisoners, ranging from Christian ministries to dating services.
 
The National Association of Letter Carriers includes a PDF format comparison chart of postage rates in selected countries (see page 18). The Postal Rate Commission has historical charts of U.S. postage rates – click on "Postal Rates & Fees" and then "History of Rates" in the left column.
 
If you'd like to read more about the process of sending coupons (page 21), there's an article at About.com, and a discussion forum contains a list of numerous base addresses where coupons can be sent. (The Web site given in Issue 7 is no longer active.)
 
There are probably as many descriptions of the history of "Amazing Grace" (page 22) as there are recorded versions; here are two, from Wikipedia and from Sacred Harp, "the largest surviving branch of traditional American Shape Note Singing". William Cowper's home Orchard Side is now the Cowper and Newton Museum. The Gutenberg project has the text of two of Cowper's books: The Diverting History of John Gilpin and Task and Other Poems.
 
Several volumes of the letters of William Cowper are available. Cowper was one of the most popular poets of the late 18th century, as well as a hymnodist who often worked in collaboration with John Newton.
John Newton, to whom Cowper wrote the letter printed in Issue 7, was the author of the popular hymn "Amazing Grace". He wrote the song after surviving a storm at sea as the captain of a slave ship. Some years later he became a minister and abolitionist.
The Self-Made series of George Horace Lorimer, despite (or perhaps because of) its quaint, earthy advice, has been in and out of print for the last 100 years, most recently reprinted this year.
Charles Eustace Merriman's continuation of the Self-Made series adds an even breezier and sometimes more pointed style; these books have also been recently reprinted.
Clicking on the links in this column will take you to Powell's, the world's largest independent bookstore. 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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