Online exhibit shows the letters of war

The Legacy Project, which I've mentioned on this blog several times, has teamed up with the Gilder Lehrman Insitute of American History to present an online exhibit titled "Battle Lines: Letters From America's Wars."

The exhibition has five chapters, and each chapter features several letters. If you have the right software in your computer (Adobe Flash), you can see images of the original letters, as well as typed transcripts.

To visit the exhibit, go to http://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/battlelines

It is a wonderful project, especially interesting for history buffs and letter lovers (I've seen the term epistophile used unofficially online).

Letter Writing Inspiration

A News Cafe

Here is some letter-writing inspiration to start the week off on a good note:

Last week, Valerie Ing of Redding, California, wrote her column for A News Cafe (anewscafe.com) about Wendi Harner and her letter writing habits. Not only does Wendi love to write letters, but she's also a big proponent of Girls Love Mail, an organization that sends letters to women who are in treatment for breast cancer. Anyone can write letters to be sent in packets to those with cancer.

To read Valerie's story about Wendi, click here. For more information about Girls Love Mail, visit the group's website at GirlsLoveMail.com.

Looking for something to do? Write a letter!

From what I can see, based on today's weather forecast, much of the U.S. is expected to experience warm temperatures this summer day, with highs ranging from the upper 80s to more than 110 degrees (F) for much of the country, especially the west, southwest and southeast. Many of the areas that aren't forecast for hot weather likely are expecting storms, or at least rain today. And, it's not just in the U.S. that it's a hot summer.  I'm getting reports from Postcrossing participants -- via their postcards and comments on the postcards I send them -- that it's quite warm in parts of Europe and Asia, as well.

What I'm getting at is that if you end up spending time indoors today to escape the heat or the storms -- or cold in the southern hemisphere -- this is a great time to write a letter or two. Banish the boredom of summer by reaching out to the world with a handwritten note or postcard.

And, if the weather is nice enough, find yourself a comfortable spot outside and get to writing!

What to write about? Write about the weather, your plans, your dreams, your day...just write!

Reminder for U.S. residents

Don't forget...next Tuesday the United States will celebrate Independence Day, and mail will not be delivered or picked up by the U.S. Postal Service. It's a federal holiday, and there will be no mail service on Tuesday, July 4. So, mail your letters early and/or expect a slight delay.

Happy letter writing!

Letters to Soldiers -- Past and Present

From the Amarillo Globe-News

This past weekend, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas, hosted a letter writing event in conjunction with its exhibit “The Great War and the Panhandle-Plains Region.”

The story caught my attention because of the letter writing aspect but also because I visited that museum a time or two as a kid. We lived about an hour away.

According to Lisa Lamb’s article on the Amarillo Globe-News’ website, there were two parts to the Saturday event. Area residents brought their World War I memorabilia to be considered for inclusion in the museum’s collection, and a program on Letters From Home highlighted the importance of letter writing during World War I. Additionally, visitors had the opportunity to write a letter to today’s U.S. military members through the Operation Gratitude project.

After reading that story, I tracked down Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit organization in California. The group’s online media kit says that they send care packages and letters of support to individual soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines deployed in harm’s way, to their children left behind, and to first responders, veterans, new recruits, military families, wounded heroes and their caregivers. Starting in 2003, they have sent 1,784,080 care packages so far.

Those care packages include a variety of items, including letters. According to the Operation Gratitude website, they have sent 5 million hand-written letters. That’s a lot of letters!

You can read more about Operation Gratitude and how you can become involved on the organization’s website.

It sounds like a good project that letter writers will enjoy!

A column about letters and a letter about the column

Last week, Lana Sweeten-Shults, a writer and editor for the Wichita Falls Times Record News, wrote a column about letter writing, and my friend Laura alerted me, knowing how interested I would be.

The column focused on her kids and how she came to realize that they didn't know how to write letters -- or postcards -- and her mission to remedy that situation.

She steps back in time to when she was a young girl, writing to her penpal, sending off for photos of celebrities and writing to her sister who was in the Army. You can read the column on the Times Record News' website at http://bit.ly/2rrw1Tx

Sweeten-Shults' column inspired a letter to the editor by a reader who reminisced about letter writing and other topics. In his letter, Joseph E. Whalen, Jr. of Wichita Falls suggests that people who protest things might see better results if they wrote letters instead.

As we head into this weekend, let's take Lana and Joseph's advice and write some letters. Write about whatever strikes your fancy. Write to complain; write to say "wish you were here"; write to say "I miss you."

Happy letterwriting!

Letter Writing Project Benefits Students and Chicago Organization

To me, one of the fun and wondrous things about life -- and the internet -- is how one thing leads to another and another and before long you have learned something new and fascinating.

I started out researching a story about letter writing. I came across an article on the Chicago Reader website about two Chicago school classes that wrote letters to each other. The story not only detailed how the students got to know their letter-writing partners, but it also explained that the project culminated in the publishing of a book featuring some of their letters.

As I looked up more information about the book, I discovered 826CHI, a nonprofit organization that provides free writing and tutoring programs for Chicago students. Not only does the organization have workshops, field trips and in-school projects, it also has a publishing department that prints and binds students' works into books that are sold at The Secret Agent Supply Co., a shop in Chicago that benefits 826CHI.

The letter-related book is titled "P.S. You Sound Like Someone I Can Trust," a line taken directly from one student's letter. You can order the book online at The Secret Agent Supply Co.  

You can read more about 826CHI and all of their programs, including a gallery of student writing, at the organization's website.

And, you can read the entire article about the letter writing project on the Chicago Reader.

According to the article, each year 826CHI has a unique project, so this letter writing program was a one-time event. But, that's not to stop anyone else from creating a similar program between two school classes. Such a project could teach handwriting, business skills, writing/English skills, as well as the basics of how to write and mail a letter, and much more, I'm sure. It could be done with or without the book. But, if a group wanted to publish a book of their letters, a quick print or print-on-demand service could handle it inexpensively.

I certainly hope the idea spreads and more and more young people learn the joys of letter writing!