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| Handwritten letter from Mattie to Miss Alice Reynolds dated October 25, 1903. Located at the Houston County, Tennessee Archives |
Today, most of us write emails, tweets, Facebook posts and texts to communicate with our family and friends. When was the last time you sat down and wrote an actual handwritten letter and mailed it to someone? This type of genealogy record source is what I call a "rare genealogical record source" because while the old letters still exist there are practically no new records of this type being produced.
As genealogists, what do we do with these old letters that we have in our family collections? We preserve and archive them!
Before the actual physical archiving starts, I always encourage genealogists to scan or digitize their letters and to transcribe them word for word, that way once you have physically archived them you don't need to handle them as much. Handling them with your hands can cause damage over time if the items are handled a lot.
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| Original envelope for letter by Miss Mary Carpenter with post mark of December 17, 1889, Erin, Tennessee. Located at Houston County, Tennessee Archives |
When archiving old letters, it is important to keep the original envelope with the letter if it has been saved. There is valuable genealogical information on the envelope that you want to save. My advice is to remove the letter from the envelope, flatten the letter and put both the letter and the envelope into an archival polyester sleeve or into an archival page protector. Store them in an archival file folder or in a 3-ring binder and keep in a dry, dark place where it is preferably as cold as possible. Heat and humidity can destroy your documents, so it is always a good idea to store your records in a cold environment.
Now, how do you find old letters in archives, libraries or any of our wonderful repositories that hold genealogical records? This task can be a bit difficult but if you are diligent you might just get rewarded.
Most old letters will be found in Manuscript Collections. These collections of records are usually arranged by subject, surname or with titles such as "John Doe Papers 1871-1922". Once you have identified a collection that interests you, then you need to look at the finding aid. The finding aid is a document that is produced by the archivist and is an outline of what the collection is all about and will include a list of what is contained in each box. Most of the time the box list is not detailed by what each piece of paper is in each folder but rather it will say "Folder #1: Correspondence 1871-1888". You will have to open the file and read through the correspondence to see if there is anything of interest to your research.
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| Greeting card with letter sent to Mrs. W.T. Smith of Erin, Tennessee dated 1919. Notice how small this letter is next to this cell phone. Located in the Houston County, Tennessee Archives |
Lastly, let's not forget postcards! Our ancestors were avid users of postcards of all kinds. The preservation methods described earlier in this blog can be used with postcards. Also, postcards will be found in Manuscript Collections the same as old letters. Postcards come in all shapes, sizes and kinds. There are even postcards made from photographs. If you are looking for a photograph of your ancestor, just maybe there is one out there that is on a postcard.
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| Postcard to Master Marshall W. Wynns in Erin, Tennessee from L.F.J.
Located in the Houston County, Tennessee Archives
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While the art of letter writing is no longer in fashion, we as genealogists have an opportunity to peer into our ancestors lives by reading their wonderful letters. The information that could be contained on our ancestors letters help us to put "meat on the bones" of the ones we are researching and helps their story come alive!
REMEMBER: IT'S NOT ALL ONLINE, CONTACT OR VISIT AN ARCHIVE TODAY!
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I have about 400 letters that my grandparents wrote back and forth during the courtship in 1916-1919. I'm slowly working on transcribing them so I can share with my siblings and cousin - it is very tedious. I can't even imagine scanning every one of them as most are at least four sided - it is too overwhelming to even think about.
ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting to read about my grandfather's service in WWI and the thoughts that both of them had as the war ended. Historical, that's for sure.
I've ordered your book above and can't wait to read it!
Debi, what a treasure trove you have! I don't have many letters in my genealogy collection, so you are very fortunate. Thank You for reading my blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa, I enjoyed your blog and have already transcribed most of the letters my grandfather wrote back home in NY after he moved to Florida in 1894. He had no phone and letters were the forerunners to todays' texts! Is there a place where I should be sending the digital copies? An archive? I've already given them to our local historical society. Thanks, Peggy Duncan
ReplyDeletePeggy, I would suggest that you if you would like to donate the digital copies that you contact the archives where he lived and see if they would like a copy. If the letters contain any local history or even state or national history you might contact the state archives also. Hope this helps. Thank You for reading my blog!
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