Real letters, read by FamilyLore
Sixteen letters from 1758 to 1943, from public archives. Open one to watch it being read.
Language & hand
Period
16 of 16
I · The age of the quill (1750–1800)
Letters written with a cut quill and iron-gall ink, in hands taught by writing masters and parish clerks.
14 Mar 1758 · GermanyG. E. Lessing to Ewald von KleistLessing writes to his friend, the soldier-poet Kleist, in the middle of the Seven Years’ WarWikimedia Commons (no source institution named) · Public Domain
German · 18th-c. Kurrent
11 Jul 1776 · PennsylvaniaJasper Yeates to Col. Edward HandTwo weeks after the Declaration, a lawyer heads to Fort PittSmithsonian National Postal Museum · CC0
English (US) · round handNot yet uploadable
1782 · Greater PolandBaptism of Tekla Justyna KrzyżanowskaThe baptism of the girl who became Chopin’s motherState Archive in Poznań (via Wikimedia Commons partnership upload) · CC0
Latin · parish registerNot yet uploadable
24 Oct 1792 · IrkutskMatvei Lapatin to Grigorii ShelikhovNews from Irkutsk for the merchant who founded Russian AmericaLibrary of Congress, Manuscript Division · No known restrictions
Russian · 18th-c. cursive
II · Emancipations and emigrations (1830–1866)
Serfs freed, America letters, the Civil War: ordinary people write more, and write further from home.
26 Jan 1831 · ViennaFryderyk Chopin to Józef ElsnerChopin, twenty, writes to his teacher while the November Uprising goes on at homeNational Library of Poland (Polona), via Wikimedia Commons GLAM partnership · Public Domain
Polish · Latin cursiveNot yet uploadable
15 Dec 1855 · ScutariFlorence Nightingale to Lt. Col. LefroyFrom the hospital at Scutari, in the first winter of the Crimean WarWellcome Collection · Public Domain
English · Victorian cursiveNot yet uploadable
20 May 1858 · Serbin, TexasJohann Kilian to Gotthold Albert GumlichA pastor who took his congregation to Texas writes home: drought, then a downpour, and the flower seeds that never came upSLUB Dresden (Saxon State and University Library), via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain
German · Kurrent with Latin names
28 Jul 1859 · IndianaRachel Ward to David WaltersA courtship letter; they married the next yearSmithsonian National Postal Museum · CC0
English (US) · Spencerian eraNot yet uploadable
22 Apr 1860 · St PetersburgTaras Shevchenko to Varfolomii ShevchenkoOn the anniversary of the day he was freed from serfdom, Shevchenko writes to his kinsmanInstitute of Literature, Kyiv (ІЛ, ф. 1, № 237), via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain
Ukrainian · 19th-c. Cyrillic cursive
4 Dec 1862 · MississippiCapt. Calvin R. Johnson to his wife LucyA captain of the 14th Wisconsin writes home from the Mississippi campaignLibrary of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Liljenquist Family Collection · No known restrictions
English (US) · Civil War cursiveNot yet uploadable
26 Sep 1864 · Sterling, IllinoisEmigrants to their grandfather and relativesSwedish emigrants write to “älskade morfar och släktingar”Nordiska museet (archive), via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain
Swedish · America letterNot yet uploadable
30 Apr 1866 · to GenevaHippolyte Valmore to Gustave RevilliodThe poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore’s son thanks a Geneva collector for two portraitsArchives d'État de Genève, via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain
French · Latin cursiveNot yet uploadable
III · The long 19th century ends (1875–1914)
Pre-reform spelling, two calendars, and the last letters of the old schooling.
20 Av 5637 (1877) · YemenSalem b. Musa to his wife and childrenA father writes home, dated by the Hebrew calendarLibrary of Congress, African and Middle East Division, Hebraic Section · No known restrictions
Hebrew · Yemenite semi-cursiveNot yet uploadable
20 Jul / 2 Aug 1910 · KhabarovskV. K. Arsenyev to A. M. IvanovThe explorer plans his book on the Ussuri country, dated in two calendarsWikimedia Commons (reproduced from Arsenyev, Collected Works vol. I, Vladivostok: Rubezh, 2007) · Public Domain
Russian · pre-1918 spelling
IV · Field post (1914–1945)
Letters home from two world wars, from the Kurrent of 1914 to the Sütterlin of 1943.
17 Oct 1914 · BerlinKarl and Käthe Kollwitz to their son PeterThe envelope came back marked “Zurück – tot”Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln (via museum press kit PDF), Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain
German · Kurrent, WWI field post
Easter 1943 · Im OstenLeo Meter to his daughter BarbaraA soldier’s Easter letter to his daughter, drawn as much as writtenWikimedia Commons (reproduced from Kurt Löb, in 'Poesie als Auftrag', Königshausen & Neumann 2001, p. 193) · Public Domain
German · Sütterlin, WWII field post