Who doesn’t enjoy a pictogram? You know what that is: it’s where a picture represents a word, concept, or instruction. Gosh, I remember having so much fun with those kinds of books as a kid (…a big shout-out to the Verona Public Library, where, as a kid, I’d check out books by the armful).READ MORE
Saturday, October 10, 1942
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My dear Mom,
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Today no letter from you, but a package for which I thank you very much: a padlock, Felisedine, slippers, hard candies, envelopes, a blanket, in short, everything that was written on the little paper inside, everything except the ‘Comedia’ that you may have taken out at the last minute.
If that’s the case, you were right, for the reading of ’Echo de Nancy’ is enough for me. Again, thank you but please do not deprive yourself of anything for me, for I don’t need anything else and I wouldn’t fear asking you if I did. So please don’t go without something for my comfort, promise?
Elbing, July 2, 1944
Dear Madame and Monsieur Roland,
I received your kind letter [which] gave me great pleasure to have your news and information about the arrival of Roland. Thank you very much for the information about the [unclear] young lady. I’m in good spirits, don’t worry.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. (I mean really—how fun was that email to get?!)
I am ridiculously honored to learn they chose ‘Marcel’s Letters’ for their September Postmarks & Paperbacks online book club. The book club meets virtually on September 13. The event is totally free but you have to claim a spot. JOIN ME!
People often ask whether I’m still actively searching for information on Marcel. People seem disappointed when I tell them I am not trying to find additional information on his life or his time in the Berlin-Marienfelde labor camp. I feel I have enough information to understand who he was and what he may have experienced. And I believe that even if I were to find additional documents (or letters!) it would not fundamentally change the man I came to know: a kind and loving husband and father.READ MORE
Photos: Pack O’ Good Nights by Onolee Jones, Wetzel Publishing, 1943
For men* shipped abroad during WWII, this book was meant as a keepsake they could leave at the bedside of their beloved. It’s small—just 4.5″ wide x 2,75″ tall—and its 86 pages are filled with night-time wishes, words of love and prayers the war would soon be over.READ MORE
This is a silly departure from the serious handwriting specimens I typically post. But this sample was too fun not to share. Take a look at this sweet, sweet ledger page from December 13, 1880. It lists a variety of candies being purchased: lemon drops, kisses, peanut bars, crab apples, chocolate twists, cinnamon sticks, mint sticks, sugar cigars (spelled “segars”), rock candy, caramels, fruit balls and more. Then, at the bottom you’ll find a variety of firecrackers: paper caps, bomb shells, penny torpedoes, penny smokers and more. READ MORE
Aaron and I took the lockdown seriously. He is a frontline medical worker and witnessed early on what COVID could do to a body. We knew the possibility of exposure* was high for him—especially in those first months when PPE and testing were scarce. We also have medically fragile family members who we couldn’t bear to unknowingly expose. So for the last 14 months we have largely kept away from social gatherings, haven’t taken unnecessary risks, and have always worn masks in public. READ MORE
Whew. I had lots of unexpected feelings as I cleaned out my office storeroom today. I was not prepared for the rush of emotions I’d feel at seeing early drafts of Marcel’s Letters.
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Most of the old letters I buy are cheap. As in, my self-imposed budget is $5–$15. Heck, Marcel’s original letters were only $6 and change. I’ve only broken that rule a few times, such as when I acquired this WWII postcard—and I purchased it only because the postcard had been mailed from the Berlin-Marienfelde labor camp at the same time Marcel was there.READ MORE
When I was a sophomore in college, I attended Middlesex Polytechnic for one semester. Middlesex Poly was a public university in northern London (now called Middlesex University). Studying abroad was an adventure as much as it was an educational opportunity, and as it turned out class lessons were second to life lessons I learned that fall. Quite unexpectedly, one of those life lessons I learned from Princess Diana herself.
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Earlier this year I received an email from a man named David Hoople, who was writing from his home in Maine. After reading Marcel’s Letters he was so struck by similarities in our stories that he felt compelled to reach out. “The parallels to my project were inspiring,” he wrote. David went on to explain he had been transcribing the letters his father, Ted, mailed home while serving in the 10th Mountain Division during WWII. Similar to my search for information on Marcel, David’s journey to understand his father’s experience involved carefully piecing together information from handwritten letters, a trip abroad, and a remarkable encounter at the top of Mt. Croce—one of those goosebump-inducing moments that just might make you believe in divine meddling.READ MORE